The Nobles Guardian

Age 1991

Ken stared at the Noble in awkward silence.

He stared back at her with an amused grin. "So..." He said staring down the young girl. "You're a Gold-ranked Enforcer?"

"U...Uh yeah." Ken said nodding her head as the man continued to stare at her. "I have the badge..."

"Yes... And it is an official badge." The old Noble said giving a nod from his head. "Fun fact, it is actually impossible to make a fake badge. This is because the badges are made by Storm, the leader of the Enforcers. No one knows how he makes them. Also, only an Enforcer can hold an Enforcer badge. Because of these reasons, I know that you are most certainly a real an Enforcer, with a real badge."

"Umm! Yeah..." Ken said giving a nod of her head. 'Wow... All that stuff is convenient... I guess when I passed the Enforcer exam and got onto a Squad they went ahead and marked me down as being able to use a badge then... Guess that means we'll be getting our own badges soon!'

"Of course... Just because you have an official badge, and you are definitely an Enforcer doesn't mean that badge is yours..."

Ken froze slightly as the man stared at her. "W...What?"

His calm smile never seemed to fade as his eyes stared into her dull red ones. "Tell me..."

"K...Ken..."

"Ken. Do you know how many ranks of the Enforcers there are?"

"Umm." Ken's eyes widened as she quickly tried to remember. She was sure Kitsune would have been a massive nerd and told her at one point. "Three! There's three! The bronze badge, which is given to rank one member of the Enforcers. The Silver badge which is given to rank two Enforcers. And the Gold badge. Which is given to the final rank of the Enforcers and the highest rank they can go to."

The man let out a small laugh as he leaned his head in his hand still staring at the young fourteen-year-old girl in front of him. "You were so close... There are actually five ranks..."

"F...Five..."

"Yes. The Bronze badge. This badge is given out to you once you pass the first advancement test. The silver badge, given to an Enforcer once you pass the tier two advancement test. And then or course the Gold badge which an Enforcer gets once they pass the tier three Advancement test. However, there are two more badges that most Enforcers don't know about. The Platinum badge given to a very powerful individual. These people protect Noble Storm of the Enforcers. There can only be four Platinum badges at once. And finally the Glass badge. This is a secret badge that almost nobody knows about. Not even the Twelve captains are supposed to know about that particular badge..."

"Y...You don't say..." Ken said giving an unconvincing smile.

"Tell me, Ken. Why haven't I heard of you?"

"...What!"

"Every Enforcer who reaches the silver badge will have a bio in the official Enforcer manual." The Noble reached down pulling out a small book as he dropped it on the table. "At the end of every year, they make a new book going over the current Enforcers. You aren't in it?"

"...Oh..."

The man sat back once more as he continued to stare at her. "So Ken... How many of you are there?"

"Oh... Umm! A lot! Like a whole Squad all of which know where I was so if I ever went missing it would be noticed!"

"You don't say..." He said quietly. Before he could say more though the door to the room flew open as another butler ran in.

"Sir! We have a serious problem!" The man said running up to the Noble. "That boy... I'm not sure how but he somehow found the room... He busted a hole in-"

"What!" The calm look on the Noble's face was gone, as he was overtaken by pale and frightened face. "But how... I made sure to keep it hidden off of maps, radars, sight, and sound- Wait a minute... That boy! What was his eye color?"

"What?"

"His eye color!" The Noble shouted losing his cool. "Did he have silver eyes? And a silver strand of hair?"

"Y...Yes, sir-"

"Seraphin!" The Noble jumped up as he began to pace completely forgetting that anyone else was in the room. "He smelled it..."

Meanwhile...

A few minutes earlier...

Hero walked down the hallways slowly. He could feel small trickles of tears roll down his face as he tried to cover his nose. "God... That smell..." He nearly gagged as he continued his way forward. "I'm sure this is gonna be some kind of big misunderstanding but still... Geez..." He muttered to himself a bit more as he continued his way through the long hallways.

With every step, the young Enforcer took the stench would grow, as would his beating heart. The air seemed to grow colder, and more hostile as he neared... Well, whatever it was he was walking to...

"Let's see what you're hiding..." Hero muttered out as he stopped in front of a wall. "This is the place." He said quietly as he reached out placing his hand on the wall. "The smell is coming from here for sure..." He announced. "But how do I open... Wait. I'm Hero Otoko. I'll just do what it superiors taught me and smash through it!" He announced proudly as he pulled back his arm. "Here goes nothing-"

The sounds of flesh hitting metal echoed out followed by the cries of a young boy.

"Fu- Ahh! Shit that hurt!" Hero hissed clutching his broken hand. He gritted his teeth as he popped it back into place and seconds later it heal. "Huh... Healing is getting faster and easier. I guess as my % goes up I'll be able to do more crazy shit like this..." The as of now, not yet a real Enforcer, shook his head as he snapped back to the wall. "Okay... Punching it didn't work. During my short amount of training, I was taught to use my head... If punching it doesn't work... Then I should punch it harder!" He shouted.

Hero jumped into the air as his right arm grew in size becoming massive. Several boney spikes stabbed out of his elbow as they began to pump out a wave of pressurized air launching the limb forward.

"Big-Arm-Strike!" He bellowed right as his fist slammed into the wall.

The entire mansion seemed to shake as several cracks appeared along the wall. Seconds later the entire thing exploded in a hail of dust as Hero's arm pushed past it.

The boy in question fell hitting the floor as his arm shrunk back down, becoming shriveled up. That limb would now be useless for fifteen minutes, as that was the time it would take him to heal the thing...

"Alright!" Hero yelled out jumping back up to his feet. "I got about ten... Maybe fifteen minutes before those guys get here. Let's see what it is you're hiding!"

Hero walked past the hole entering the room...

The first thing he noticed was that it was white. Like really white. White roof, white floor, white walls. The entire room was made out of some clean, shiny, and cold, looking metal giving it a sleek design. There was no dust or dirt anywhere. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Hero did just knock a wall down after all.

"Whoa... What is this place?" He said slightly confused as he walked forward. He looked around in amazement. "It's so shiny and white... This isn't a hospital is it! I hate hospitals!"

'Beep'

"What?"

'Beep'

"Yeah, that's what I thought you said." Hero turned to the very back of the hallway now noticing a small metal keypad on the wall.

There was what looked like a glass cylinder. Like something you would place another thing in, and it would drop it down. Kind of like an elevator but for only one person? It also made a quiet beeping sound.

Hero slowly walked up to it out of curiosity.

There was a quiet clicking sound as what looked like a metal eye popped out. A red glow flashed through the entire hallway startling Hero.

'Scanning. Scanning. Scanning. One life form detected. Gender Male. Status not of the Noble family. Mission... Terminate!'

"Terma what now-"

The walls cracked open and out poured a wave of broken, run-down, barely functioning Automatons...

"Uh oh..."

They all let out a quiet clicking sound as their scanners became red, and they locked on to their newest target...