Chapter 2 - Thugs and Monsters

Point-of-View: Zoraiz Rafayet

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Okay, so two thugs down, five more to go.

"I'm so gonna waste this little shit," Remarked one of the remaining five, pointing a gun at me.

Crap, I can avoid that easily, but if I do, it'll hit the girl, and letting that happen would be a dick move...in that case...

I swiftly lifted her up and held her in my arms, eliciting a surprised cry of alarm from her, as the thug fired the gun. I easily evaded the bullet and zipped towards him, slamming my knee onto his midsection and sending him flying back, his head hitting the ground as he fell backwards, knocking him out.

Woah, that had more force than I intended...there's blood trickling out of the back of his head.

"What the-...freaky little cunt!" Another one then sprang up to my left with an alarmed yell, a knife in his hand.

With a swift twist of my foot, I spun myself around and swung my other foot up, striking the side of his head and knocking him out, as he got slammed onto the ground on his side...oops, that felt like I almost broke his neck, I was probably really close to killing him just then...I should probably stick to hits to the torso to avoid killing anyone.

Not because I'm above killing these assholes or anything stupid like that, but because leaving a trail of dead bodies in my wake isn't going to help with getting the cops off my ass. So I'll let them live.

The remaining three thugs then surrounded me, all of them with guns drawn and wary looks on their faces as they began to pull their triggers.

Right as they fired, the girl then let out a yelp of surprise as I swiftly tossed her straight up, high into the air, while simultaneously dropping down to duck under the bullets, which narrowly whizzed past the thugs without hitting them. Aw, too bad, I was kinda hoping that they'd end up shooting each other once I ducked.

Oh, well...I then picked up a bit of dust and flung it up at one of their eyes, before leaping towards him as I blinded him and caused him to stumble back with a yell of alarm, grabbing his wrist and then spinning him around, his feet slamming onto the heads of the other two, knocking them both out.

I then swung him back the other way, slamming his back against the wall of the building to the right with a resounding impact, cracks appearing in the wall as he crashed onto it, losing consciousness with a gasp of pain, coughing out blood as his eyes drooped shut and his body collapsed onto the ground.

I then quickly zipped across and caught the girl before she could crash onto the ground, letting her down slowly.

"Are you, uh, okay?" I inquired awkwardly, as I set her down.

"Um, yeah, I-...th-thank you...thank you so much!" She exclaimed gratefully, tears running down her face as she collapsed onto her knees shakily.

Crap, now that the adrenaline has worn off, I'm realizing...that I have no idea how to talk to girls. And she's a really cute girl too, with short blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a slender, attractive physique. The majority of the interactions with other people that I've had in my life have been hostile encounters, so holding normal conversations isn't my strong suit, I'm better at arguing with people instead.

"O-oh, uh...no problem," I replied nervously, before adding, "By the way, uh, if you don't mind, don't tell anyone about me. That, uh, you know, I've got superspeed or whatever."

I really should be laying low, after all. I've got my face mask on, so she hasn't seen my face, but that's far from a foolproof disguise. Well, I suppose it's better than Superman with his glasses, but still.

"Hm?" She responded as she wiped away her tears and stood up, starting to look a lot calmer, "Oh, sure, if that's what you want. Well, um, I should get going, so...thank you again!"

And with that, she left. A little sudden, but not exactly surprising, I'm sure she wants to get away from here ASAP, considering that she was very nearly gang raped here.

Okay, gotta focus back on my own predicament now, I need to find a more deserted hiding place, this area isn't going to work. This is a kinda shady neighborhood, and I don't want to get involved in any more incidents.

Alright, time to go-...I then froze as I noticed something on the wall, partially hidden by a drain pipe. It was a security camera...shit, shit, shit!

I need to get far away from here, right now! I zipped out of the alley and raced through the streets at top speed, making random turns through alleyways as I ran, I had no idea where I was going, just that it was going to be a significant amount of distance away from this area...!

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About an hour and a half later, I finally stopped running...I was somewhere on a mountain, laying next to a bush, struggling to catch my breath. Pretty sure plenty of security cameras spotted me, but right now, I was too worn out to care.

Damn it...I feel incredibly hungry, and my vision is starting to blur a bit. I should have figured...this power probably made my metabolism increase like crazy, that's how superspeed usually works in comics and anime, right? Well, there was also the fact that I'd only eaten a single apple today.

I should find something to eat, maybe some nuts or berries, there's a lot of plants here, so there should be something. I stood up with a tired sigh and began searching the trees and bushes wearily, my stomach growling loudly the whole time.

After about twenty minutes of fruitless searching, pun intended, I let out a sigh of relief as I came across some berries. I plucked them off the branches and wolfed them down ravenously, the juices running down my face and dripping onto my clothes, but I was way too hungry, and not to mention thirsty, to care.

They're kinda sour, but super juicy, so it was sating both my hunger and my thirst. Before I knew it, I had nearly cleared up all the berries on the bush, when suddenly, I stiffened as I heard something rustling behind me. Crap, is it a wild animal!?

Wait, I should be able to deal with vicious animals now, I have the power to do s-...okay, those aren't animals. I turned around to see-...no, seriously, what the hell are those things!?

They looked like trees...with arms, legs and faces. What the actual fuck is this!? How has today not been a goddamn dream!? And where'd they even come from, I'd explored the area that they were approaching from, there's no way that I'd have missed seeing these things if they'd been there the whole time!

Yeah, I don't even want to try fighting these things...I mean, why would I fight them anyway!? Yeah, so my next course of action is an obvious one...I'm gonna run away. I began to make a break away from the trees and into open space, but my legs wouldn't move.

And I don't mean that I was frozen with fear or whatever, of course not...no, there were vines wrapped around my ankles, preventing me from getting away. One of the tree monsters then walked towards me with a low growl that sounded like a deep rumble, opening its mouth widely as it closed in on me.

I gritted my teeth and let out a yell as I drew back my fists and slammed them against the monster repeatedly, striking faster and faster with each and every strike, cracking the bark of the 'tree' before the momentum of my fists generated enough force to send it flying back and crashing onto a regular tree, before breaking apart.

I see, just like with running, I can't reach full speed and momentum immediately, I can generate my top speed pretty quickly but not instantly, that's why I can't run away...but maybe I can punch the vines off and-...never mind, the remaining monsters had completely surrounded me, and were steadily closing in, with that creepy deep rumble.

Before I could react, three of them shot vines out at me, two grabbing each of my arms and the other grabbing my torso, completely immobilizing me. Shit, I can't move! The monsters then raised their hands, giving me a clear look at their sharp, wooden fingers. Is this seriously it for me, am I gonna be killed by freaking trees, of all things!?

I let out a defeated sigh as I slumped and closed my eyes...well, whatever, it's not like screaming or crying will make a difference. I hope I die before I feel too much pain, but maybe that's wishful thinking....

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Huh? Am I dead? Everything's silent, I can't hear that rumbling noise anymore and it feels like the vines restraining me had gone slack. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around...the monsters were gone, and in front of me...was a man with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and green eyes...

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Point-of-View: Neo Cronje

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Hm? Is that my phone ringing? I sat up with a yawn and picked it up groggily...what time it is? What the-...it's three in the fucking morning, who's calling me this late!? Let's see...oh, looks like the intel division...

"Do you have any idea what time-?" I began with an irritated sigh.

"We finally found a lead!" Interrupted an excited voice on the other end.

Huh? Already? Wow, that was fast, it's only been, like, half a day since I lost the Meta-Orbs...

"And why couldn't this wait till the morning?" I grumbled with a yawn.

"Oh, uh...it's the middle of the afternoon over here."

"Yeah, well, it's 3 AM over here," I replied dryly.

"Again, my apologies, but we were told by the higher ups to contact you the moment we found something. They haven't yet managed to get anyone else on board with this assignment, so I'm afraid that you're the only one that we can bring this to right now."

Those old assholes...

"Hm, fine...what did you find? Make it quick, got it?" I sighed, scratching the back of my head.

He then went on explain what they had found...reports and social media posts about a teenager with super speed in New York. Looks like he found the Physical Skill Meta-Orb. I'm pretty drowsy, but I suppose I can't put this off...when Eden catches wind of this, they're likely to figure out what's going on.

I still can't believe that they put me in charge of finding the people that come across the Meta-Orbs. Sure, it may have been partially my fault, but still...I'm not equipped for this kind of task, there's a lot of people way more skilled than I am at this stuff.

But those old farts can be pretty stubborn, they're perfectly willing to ignore logic for the sake of their own selfish interests, I should be grateful that they're even trying to assign others to this task at all.

And going against them is way more trouble than I'm willing to deal with, so I guess I don't have a choice but to do this. I got up with a sigh and began to get dressed, stifling a yawn as I ran a hand through my hair a couple of times.

"Alright, send me the coordinates, I'll be over there shortly," I sighed reluctantly, before hanging up.

Well, this is going to be a pain, but since I have to do it, I guess there's no point in half-assing it...

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Okay, here I am...in New York. I'm still really sleepy, this is a real hassle. The intel division had sent me coordinates to the last place that the boy had been sighted. There were several blurry photos and some security cam footage posted on social media that they'd found, and they'd traced the locations of the uploads.

I was in a spot that's near a hill with a small forest on it, where the most recent footage had been uploaded from...that's probably where he is, since finding a place to hide was probably the main thought occupying his mind while he was running away.

The police here are likely uncertain as to how to approach and confront him, so before that, I need to find him and take him to a hidden Harmony base. It's late in the evening here, I should hurry before it gets too dark...a Meta-Orb hold so much power that it's likely that nocturnal Monsters will be attracted to it.

Yes, Monsters exist. There are far fewer of them than there were in the past, but they're definitely still around. They live in a mirrored dimension to the material world and can freely travel between their world and this one. They're pretty inactive in most parts of the world, but if they sense the Aura of a Meta-Human, they'll come out to play.

Monsters have no interest in normal humans, who can't see them to begin with, they crave the energy that Meta-Humans generate, Aura. Normal humans don't have Auras, so Monsters ignore them.

The person who came across the Physical Skill Meta-Orb would have gained an Aura the moment he came into contact with it, and an extremely powerful Aura at that.

Well, 'gain' isn't really the right word, it's more like his dormant Meta genes and Aura were awakened, triggered by the Meta-Orb. And thanks to the amount of power contained inside the orb, his Aura capacity would have increased far beyond its natural potential.

Suppressing one's Aura is a pretty simple technique to master, but an amateur who was just a normal human a few hours ago and knows nothing about Meta-Humans won't have any idea how to do so, meaning Monsters will be able to sense them. Meta-Humans can also sense the Auras of other Meta-Humans, but I can't.

Well, technically, I can, but only within an extremely short range. It's not my fault though, one of the Skills I possess is the Space Skill, and without exception, all Meta-Humans that have that particular Skill are notoriously bad at sensing the Auras of others for some reason.

Yeah, that's why I said that I'm not suited for this task, it'd be ridiculously easy for someone who can sense Auras to find this person, because their Aura is bound to be massive, even if they aren't in control of it, since they obtained all the power that was contained inside the Meta-Orb. Anyway, I better hurry, I doubt a normal person will react calmly if ambushed by Monsters...

...

Okay, I was in the forest now, but I had no idea where to find him. This was a pretty small forest, but it's still a pretty big space to explore. Where do I even st-...suddenly, I heard a deep rumbling coming from a couple hundred meters away...that sounds like Treants, walking tree Monsters. They're not all that strong, but that can be tricky to deal with if you don't know what they can do.

I should hurry.

"Just in case...Space Skill: Pocket Dimension," I rushed over in that direction as fast as I could, opening a portal to a dimension where I store stuff using my Space Skill, and pulling a sword out of it.

And then I felt it, an immense Aura...it was flowing unstably and lacked pressure, but the sheer scale of it was unreal. Damn, if I can sense it this well, then it's no wonder than it attracted Monsters.

It wasn't long before the Monsters came into sight...Treants, just as I'd thought, and there were six of them. They had surrounded a boy, who looked around eighteen or nineteen, and had him tightly restrained with vines.

He was slumped with a look of resignation on his face...well, not that I can blame him in this situation, but still, it's not often you see someone so calm in the face of their own death. Well, this is an easy fix.

I opened portals underneath each of the Treants, before cutting them off as soon as they had fallen through, severing the vines. There, done. Guess I didn't need the sword, might as well put it away.

As the vines that were wrapped around him suddenly went slack, the kid then slowly opened his eyes and looked around, before locking his gaze on me.

"Who are you?" He inquired cautiously, taking a wary step back.

"We can save the introductions for later, kid. Right now, I'm gonna need you to come with me."

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