Chapter 6 - Next Kidnapping

Point-of-View: Alexis Tucker

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Wh-what the hell just happened? The entire house is destroyed, but...how? There's no way that I-I'm the one who did this, am I? R-right?

As my mind bounced back and forth between shock and denial, I suddenly snapped out of it as I heard voices and footsteps approaching...crap, the neighbors! Of course they'd come to see what happened, that must have been really loud.

I...I need to get away from here, I don't want anyone to see me, or rather, I can't afford to be seen by anyone. As I rushed away through the backyards before the smoke fully cleared and anyone could spot me, electricity crackled around me uncontrollably...I wasn't able to suppress or stop it, and I felt so frantic, my breathing heavy and I was sweating like crazy.

What the fuck, what the fuck, WHAT THE FUCK!? What the fuck's going on!? Am I creating my own goddamn electricity!? How!? But that...shouldn't even be possible. And then there was that guy who saved me in New York, with super speed or whatever...what the hell, did I get transported to another, extremely similar world that has superpowers or something!?

Wait, where am I? I don't recognize this place...how long was I running? I then winced in pain as I felt a wave of pain from my left shoulder and arm...oh, right, in my panic, I almost forgot about the broken bulb I fell onto.

The shards must have fallen off, and I'm not bleeding...maybe the electricity closed the wounds? I don't have any electric burns though, or any burns at all, for that matter.

Damn it, just thinking about it is starting to wear me out...now that the adrenaline was starting to fade and wear off, I felt absolutely exhausted. It looks like I'm in the backyard of a house that was still under construction...good, I don't think anyone will bother me here, it's nice and dark, I can barely even see myself. I have no idea where I am, but it definitely beats going back to that house...which doesn't exist anymore, so I guess it's a moot point.

I sat down between a couple of bushes and let out a huge sigh, my vision blurring slightly. I'm so fucking tired...I think...I'll go to sleep, just for a little while. I yawned widely, my eyes glossing over as I did. I stared up at the starless, cloudy night sky blankly...they're dead...they're really dead, aren't they?

Yeah...yeah, they are, because I...because I killed them. And I feel...I feel so...so happy, the huge burden that'd been dragging me down for my entire life was finally gone. How could I not be happy?

I then let out another yawn, as my eyelids started slowly but surely drooping shut and I began to fall asleep, with a peace of mind like I'd never felt before...

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Point-of-View: Neo Cronje

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Damn it, there's still a ton of people around the destroyed house...there was also yellow tape around it and policemen around. I can't exactly investigate the place with so many eyes around...okay, let's think about this...

If I'm right about my theory that the daughter is the one who did this, she must have come across the Meta-Orb, gained the Electro Skill and then lost her temper, lost control of her new power, killed her parents, and inadvertently destroyed the house in the process.

After that, she must have undoubtedly panicked...meaning that she's unlikely to have run out to the street, after having done what she did, she probably wouldn't want to be seen...the back fence is really tall, and there's a large tree in the backyard of the house to the right...by process of elimination, she's most likely to have run away through the backyards of the houses to the left.

Okay, yeah, I think that's a good place to start. After making sure no one was looking my way, I opened a portal and walked through it, emerging in the backyard of the house to the left of the destroyed house. It's pretty dark out already, and I can't see very well...no problem, that's an easy enough fix.

I opened a portal beneath my feet, falling through it and landing in my bedroom...in my house in South Africa. The portals I create with my Space Skill let me travel anywhere on the planet that I want to in an instant, it's pretty convenient.

I don't even need a passport...I mean, I have one, but I don't need it, I've been to dozens of countries and yet my passport doesn't have a single stamp on it. Huh, actually, now that I think about it, my passport is probably already long expired.

I headed for my closet and opened it, digging through the boxes of junk at the bottom...yeah, I'm kind of a hoarder, there's stuff in here that I haven't used in years, but I just can't bring myself to get rid of them. Like, here's my old mp3 player...haven't used it in, like, fifteen years, not since I was around nine years old or so.

Ah, here it is, the thing that I was looking for...night vision glasses. They look like regular spectacles, except that the lenses are tinged green and give you night vision. I last used them about four or five months ago...I actually use them every now and then, but just not often enough to warrant carrying it around all the time.

I wiped off the dust on the frame and lenses, before putting it on...alright let's get back to America. I dropped through another portal, finding myself back in the backyard next to the destroyed house. Alright, this is much better, I can see fairly clearly now.

And that's how I spotted some blades of grass that were slightly scorched black...I knelt down and touched them...doesn't feel like fire burns, looks like I'm definitely on the right track here. Let's keep heading left from the destroyed house through the backyards in this neighborhood and see where it leads me.

This doesn't look like the kind of neighborhood in which the houses would have security cameras, but you never know, so I should keep an eye out and make sure I'm not spotted.

If, as I theorized, my target was panicking as they ran away, it's highly likely that their Aura was unstable and they were discharging sparks of lightning as a result...if so, then I have a trail to follow. Gotta make sure I'm not spotted...like I said, this is a somewhat lower-class neighborhood, so security cameras are unlikely to be a concern...but I also need to make sure no one sees me through their curtains or windows.

Best case scenario, they think I'm a burglar, worst case scenario, they record videos of me using my powers. With that footage of Zoraiz circulating around the internet, the last thing we need is to add more fuel to that fire.

It's almost a certainty that that footage will soon be forgotten and/or written off as fake, but if another video of someone using Meta-Human Skills goes viral, more people are going to start believing that super powers exist.

Unfortunately, more footage is likely to emerge eventually...after all, there are still seven more Meta-Orbs out there. This is a huge problem, the more footage that surfaces, the more people that are going to believe that the footage isn't a hoax, which puts the secrecy of the existence of Meta-Humans at risk.

And all Meta-Humans, regardless of which side they're on, agree on one particular notion...we don't want to get dragged into the politics of the surface world, we've seen how unpredictable, unstable and chaotic regular people can be, both in the past and the modern era, so we don't want to get involved with them, the only difference is that Harmony wants to leave them in peace while Eden wants to subjugate them.

I mean, look at the damage caused by the world wars and nuclear attacks, while on the flipside, none of the Meta-Human wars have even been noticed by regular people...and believe me, there have been a LOT of Meta-Human wars over the course of history, Harmony and Eden battling it out many, many times.

Eden wants Meta-Humans to ascend and take over the world, which includes killing off the majority of regular people, particularly the ones in positions of power. Meanwhile, Harmony operates under the belief that Meta-Humans should remain in the shadows and protect the world from threats like Monsters and whatnot...though most of the time, we just end up protecting the world from Eden instead.

Monsters haven't been a serious problem for a few decades now, their numbers have been kept in check and they rarely ever even show themselves anymore. Those Treants that I disposed of when I found Zoraiz, those were the first Monsters I'd seen in a couple of years. Though, I was pretty busy guarding the island where the Meta-Orbs were being created.

While Monsters usually leave normal humans alone, if we let their numbers grow too much, then they'll start affecting regular society. After all, even if they can't be seen, they still very much exist physically, if a normal human bumped into a Monster, they'd definitely feel it. So that's why Harmony eliminates Monsters and keep their numbers in check.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not that Harmony likes regular humans, because for the most part, we don't. It's not that we dislike them, it's more that most of us look down on them, a lot. Oh, and the 'we' excludes me, but that's only because I think all people are trash, both regular humans and Meta-Humans.

Besides the superpowers, Meta-Humans are no different to regular humans. And as much of most of them will insist that they are....they really aren't.

I dislike most people, though the few that earn my respect or at least prove themselves to not be trash, I'm happy to treat them with respect...unless I don't want to. The main thing is to not overthink it, I treat people in the way that feels most natural to me when it comes to each particular person.

Well, anyway, getting back to the matter at hand...it'd been about half an hour now, and I have to say, this is a pretty big neighborhood. I've lost count of how many houses l've gone past at this point...well, not that I was keeping count to begin with. But to get to the point, I think I might have found what I'm looking for.

Right ahead of me, was a half-built house, still under construction. It's a dark night out tonight, but that house is especially dark, since it has no lights or anything...if I just accidentally killed two people and destroyed a house and then ran away, I'd definitely see this as a great hiding place, at least to just regain some energy.

Alright, moment of truth, let's search the place. After glancing around and making sure the coast was clear, I hopped over the fence and looked around slowly...wow, even with the night vision glasses, it's still pretty hard to see out here...but my eyes are slowly starting to adjust.

Wait, I think I see something by those bushes...looks like a pair of legs. I quietly walked closer to get a better look...well, how about this. I was right on the money with my hypothesis, even I'm surprised by how spot on I was...this girl is definitely the daughter of the couple that died in the destroyed house, her appearance matches the profile pictures I came across online. She's fast asleep and looks completely exhausted...she must have drained her Aura, I can't sense a thing, even from this close.

I'll drop her off in the same exit-less room I dropped Zoraiz in, and then deal with the rest after she wakes up. Hm? Oh, she's injured, her left shoulder and arm had some cuts on them...the bleeding had stopped, though the wounds hadn't fully dried up yet. There's a first-aid kit in the exit-less room, she can patch herself up once she wakes up, those are pretty minor wounds.

I then opened a portal right below her and sent her into the room, as she landed on the couch in the room, before letting out a sigh of relief as I closed the portal. Alright, not bad at all, two in one day. Guess I now just need to wait till this girl wakes up, or till the intel division finds-...oh, speak of the devil, they're calling me right now...

"Yeah, hello?" I greeted, before informing them, "I just finished securing the person who came across the Electro Skill Meta-Orb, and I-."

"We've located three more! Over the past hour or so, we believe we've identified three more people who've come across the Meta-Orbs!"

"Seriously?" I groaned in dismay.

...already? And three more, at that? Come on, man, I was really hoping to get at least a day or two to rest up a bit. I guess that was just wishful thinking on my part...

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