14 Target ACQUIRED!
"Will this be good enough?" Rhos asked Dein while staring intently at the rocket which quickly grew to become a dot in the sky, a tiny candleflame persistently farting from its bottom.
"I don't know, but I'm prepared for if or when he tries to erase the space between the rocket and himself in order to destroy it," replied Dein who was crouching on the ground with his fingers interlocked. His true sapphire eyes never looked away from the sky either. "I won't be able to aid you while you fight the others. If this bastard comes down, we're done for."
Even though the rocket was now too far up for him to note every detail of it even while enhancing his sight, the Fint he placed on it and Ess revealed to him the gist of the situation.
'This guy isn't resisting at all. He'll soon be in outer space at this rate. Is he confident to be able to survive even then?' Dein thought with a deep frown.
"I have a contingency of my own in case things go south. Just keep me posted," Rhos said before zipping away.
Dein glanced at Rhos before giving his full focus back to the task at hand.
Dein's abilities stemmed from his Blue Spark.
Unlike the Green and Violet Spark, the Blue one wasn't as straightforward whether in theory or practice.
The Blue Spark allowed its user to manipulate matter by assigning representations through their Fint.
To simplify this concept, it was necessary to first understand that there were many forms of representation.
Objects like statues could be used to represent collective respect for great men.
Foods could be used to represent a nation's wealth.
Numbers could also be used to represent various intangible ideas, and this was Dein's niche with his Blue Spark.
Numbers had different connotations and meanings assigned to them in religion, education, and native cultures.
Dein extracted these meanings and made them potent supernatural effects, just as he had done when he planted the '1' on the rocket and on Ess.
As far as some religions and societal groups were concerned, the number '1' was closely associated with unity or conjoinment. Thus, Dein extracted that meaning and gave it to his Fint, resulting in Ess and the rocket resonating.
Dein had to make sure that Ess wasn't pulled to the rocket directly as that would allow him to instantly destroy it.
Of course, the Agent had the ability to manipulate the degree of resonance, which he was currently investing his full focus on at the moment.
He kept the distance between Ess and the rocket rather large, just in case the man could erase hundreds of meters worth of distance between him and the rocket in an instant.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like he was capable of such a feat.
However, even if he could, Dein could just further increase the distance between Ess and the rocket… for as long as he could.
"Come on," Dein mumbled while sweating bullets. "You guys better finish up fast."
***
Twist rushed through the forest with his eyes pinned to the sky.
The look within them displayed a minor degree of indifference and some level of concern.
'Tsk. I can't believe they really went through all that trouble to get rid of Big Brother. A rocket? Seriously? Well… I suppose it's pretty clever now that I think about it. How do they already know he's the biggest threat out of all of us though?!' Twist thought.
As he rushed forth at speeds that would make several brands of racing cars hold their pistons, he sensed the presence of many figures converging towards him while winding through the gaps between the trees.
Soon, he saw them. Most of them wore lean suits of armor, with protective helmets covering their heads. In their hands, they held varying types of weaponry; mostly advanced rifles that had streaks of neon glow around them.
Eight of these individuals immediately surrounded Twist while ten rushed past him, heading for the house beyond.
"Freeze!" one of the eight commanded as he aimed his bulky rifle which proceeded to shriek mechanically before emitting a faint, dangerous glow.
Seven other rifles charged in this fashion as their muzzles faced Twist.
The boy blinked somewhat bashfully before placing one hand on his waist and ruffling his messy, spiky hair with the other. And as a shy, twisted smile crawled onto his face, thick, dark Fint bubbled around his outline.
This agitated his enemies thoroughly.
"Stand down, boy! By Bureau mandate, I am authorized to open fire even at someone your age if you don't comply! Now get on your knees and put your hands on your head!"
Twist... remained incompliant.
"Gentlemen…" he said before donning an expression that resembled bewilderment. "WATCH OUT!"
At his sudden scream, the eight agents around Twist immediately fired their rifles, tens of high-caliber bullets wrapped in a peculiar, blue force smashing straight into the boy's figure without exception!
The surroundings were dyed in a flickering, blue tint for a full ten seconds.
The agents didn't stop. Just in case, they began taking steps back as they continued to let loose their ammunition, which continued to hit the mark accurately.
There was a lot of feedback, as expected.
These rifles and their bullets were designed specifically for dealing with Utility Users. They were part of a specialized arsenal the Bureau called Anti-Abberant Materiel; tools powered by Fint and with the capacity to breach defenses based on Fint.
Even Utility Users of Threat Levels up to Level 2 wouldn't be safe, especially if they were continuously hit in this manner.
"Hold your fire!" one of the agents yelled.
When everyone stopped shooting, a dark, hole-ridden figure was revealed at the center of their formation. He was entirely fried – overburnt, really – with blood spraying from multiple spots on his body. He had been kneeling on the ground, but right at this moment, he fell over, his burnt jacket and jeans hissing with heavy smoke. The hilt on his waist had melted into sludge, sticking to his skin.
The agents collectively sighed in relief before beginning to move closer to the charred target.
While it was more likely that the target was dead, the agents would never just assume such a thing without thoroughly checking.
Most of them had relaxed their guard quite a bit though… until one of them shook at a terrifying realization.
"What the…! Something's wrong! Was this kid that tall before?" he yelled.
The target's proportions were all sorts of wrong despite his clothing matching what the agent remembered seeing moments ago!
Right as this agent backed away in fright, he caught from the corner of his eye, something very strange.
The agent to his right, who began moving back a moment later… had suddenly grown much shorter!
Worse than that, his dark, sleek armor seemed several sizes too large, as it pooled around his arms, belly, and feet!
Even worse, was the fact that this agent was not wearing his helmet, and his face was entirely different from what it should have been!
Twist, who now occupied the oversized suit turned to his 'peer', smiled, and placed the large rifle in his hand over his shoulder.
"Bad luck, lads!" he shouted. "The target escaped. We'll get 'em next time."
"…"
A moment later, the brains of the agents spun wildly, with some of them who were opposite Twist wondering how in the world they missed the kid suddenly appearing in their direct view, in place of another agent even when the heavy lights of gunfire died down!
Confusion and panic set in.
All rifles pointed towards Twist and again, they puked tens of rounds of ammunition, obliterating him.
"Get 'em, boys! Get 'im! Don't let him escape!" a childish voice came from another one of the agents who was firing heavily like the rest.
The others instantly turned pale when they saw that once again, Twist had tricked them. They had killed one of their own again!
More confusion and panic set in.
All of a sudden, the agents' training and coordination were lost to the bizarreness of the situation and they started aiming at each other, some hesitating and some outright firing at their comrades.
Because of the infinite variations in the powers of Utilities, some convinced themselves in the heat of the moment that the young enemy they were facing was capable of possessing others while some speculated in terror that he could duplicate or shift reality or transfer damage!
"Hold your fire! Hold your fire, dammit! We need to regroup and—"
"Fire! He's among us, lads! We need to kill him! Shoot everything in sight! He could be anyone! He could be anywhere!" a boyish voice interrupted the voice of reason that cried out to the agents.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Four agents were killed in the hysteria.
The two who remained tried to keep calm, but the corpses of their comrades strewn about, barely recognizable from the gunfire, shook them.
The enemy was easier to spot now, but that didn't encourage them one bit.
The boy with a huge grin on his face, his French violet eyes shining ominously, stood by their side. While garbed in the same oversized, slim armor, he raised his rifle and aimed at one of the two.
The agents froze.
They were going to die whether they acted now or not.
Yet suddenly, something whipped in sight with abundant authority, not to mention alacrity!
BAM!
A crisp, blunt impact resounded in the next microsecond, and Twist was sent flying through the trees. He quickly found his footing, though, and he skidded on the dirt before looking ahead of him where a woman with long, dark hair that had red fringes had appeared.
Said woman, Jayne, frowned as she appraised Twist only to find that he was utterly unharmed!
'I hit him square in the face after building up a lot of momentum. That should have knocked his head off!' she thought grimly.
Twist, on the other hand, was elated.
"Who knew so many specimens would volunteer for my cause? I won't have to bother Bee after all," he said as he took a step towards Jayne.
