Danger (Part 2)

Zuno looked around him. His environment was dark, like a moonlit winter night. It appeared he was standing on black clouds. That was all he could see as far as his eyes could go.

[Where am I?] he asked himself in thought.

Suddenly, his senses heightened just in time as he dodged a scalding white beam that just narrowly missed his head.

[Damn, that's fucking hot]

Black laughed, as Zuno turned around to face his opponents.

Black and white stood next to each other smirking as they had cornered Zuno.

"Wondering where you are?" Black asked "well, I'll tell you. Seeing as you're going to die here anyway. You're currently in my domain and as long as my ability is activated, you cannot get back to the real world."

As Zuno finally understood what had happened and what his strange surrounding was, he felt the black cloud wrapping around both of his legs.

His eyes widened, and White shot another beam directly at his chest. Zuno had no choice but to block. He grit his teeth as the beam burnt both of his arms. He did his best to remain standing as the smell of his burning flesh filled the air and smoke emanated from his arms.

White spoke for the first time, "I'm going to finish him off now, we need to get back. Our priority is the kids, not killing their teachers."

Zuno's eyes widened as he realised that he'd been wrong the whole time and the men were after the students, not him.

That made him boil with anger.

He interrupted Black and White as they spoke.

"From this interaction, 3 things have been made clear. 1, for some twisted reason, you're after the kids and not me. 2, this domain is more like a dimension where you're in control but you lack attack power so you bring along that man to assist you.

Finally, if you do not undo this domain,..."

As he said this, lightning began creeping up his body, starting from his legs which in turn loosened the cloud binding him.

It travelled up his arm, ripping his shirt in the process. The lightning accumulated in his hand And formed a 1.5 metre long bolt.

"...I cannot guarantee you'll be alive after this"

Zuno jumped several metres into the air, extending his arm backwards.

At the same time, white felt the full effect of Zuno's hostile intent.

White turned to his partner, with urgency in his voice, "Black, undo it. Right no-"

The bolt seemed to increase in size as Zuno released it from his hand. To the point where it covered both the bodies of White and Black.

White did not get to finish what he was saying as he was hit with over 250 million volts.

As they fell to the floor, completely unconscious, the walls of Black's dimension began crumbling, exposing reality once again.

As Chibi ran away from her teacher and his assailant, the only thing on her mind was alerting her classmates and running away.

Red had other plans, he smiled and shouted, "Lance! Get here now"

Among the 6 men, Lance was the fastest.

His body could mimic the elastic nature of a mechanical spring. He mostly used this in his legs, turning his entire shin into a spring, which allowed him to "bounce" at very high speeds.

He appeared in front of the men a few seconds later and was instructed by Red to chase after Chibi.

Meanwhile, Izume got back to her feet, with a massive gash on her head from where it had hit the floor. She looked very pissed off. She dusted herself, turned around and looked at the room Ichisuda was in. There were a lot of loud bangs and crashes. She figured he'd handle himself well and chased after Lance but she was interrupted by the final member of the group.

"In a hurry?" The one referred to as "Lace" (short for lacerator) said, with a smile on her face.

Izume backed away just as Lace brought out two 15 inch knives.

She dashed at Izume, swinging the knives in various directions. Each swing surgical as they targeted major arteries in Izume's body.

She surprised Izume by rapidly closing the distance between them and slashing vertically downwards, causing Izume to raise her hand to block.

The knife easily ripped through her skin, creating a gash on her arm, drawing a lot of blood and causing her to shout in pain.

As she stepped back, Lace attacked her again with a thrust aimed at the heart.

Izume's eyes widened as she realised this. She put her hand in the way and the knife went through her palm, causing her to wince even more.

Lace backed away temporarily and licked the blade she had just pulled out of Izume's palm. Her eyes turned red and her muscles bulged.

Not wasting any more time, she dashed at Izume once more with a slash that barely missed the neck.

Her speed had increased exponentially but Izume still managed to dodge in time. She backed away even more till she reached a wall. The blood from her hand pouring down onto the carpeted floors of the museum.

She noticed a pressurised fire extinguisher to her left, and something clicked in her head. She pulled it off it's mount and held it in front of her just as Lace attacked again.

As the blade pierced the fire extinguisher, the pressurised gas and powder exploded outwards.

Izume had maximised the explosive force so not only did it disorient Lace, causing a spell of dizziness and a coughing fit. The powder also created a large smoke screen. So, she didn't see Izume move behind her.

She tightly wrapped her arms around Lace's neck, further restricting her breathing. She fought through the pain of her knife wounds and Lace clawing at her arms to try to break free and kept the chokehold until Lace was completely unconscious.

She took a few seconds to catch her breath, before ripping a part of her top to use as a makeshift bandage for her palm.

Afterwards, she continued chasing after Lance, ignoring Hirowa who was still having a hard time with Red's destructive abilities.

Ichisuda fell to the floor once more, breathing heavily as Blue continued to laugh.

"Give it up" Blue said, "you can't win"

"why do you never attack first? Even when I'm down" Ichisuda responded as he slowly got to his feet.

"I don't need to, you'll eventually realise attacking me is futile and give up"

Ichisuda laughed, "That's not it. It's linked to your ability. Which I assume is some sort of absorption and redistribution thing. It would explain the blue light that appears at each point of impact and then spreads to the rest of your body. "

Blue remained silent, but was not smiling anymore. Ichisuda continued speaking.

"If I'm correct, there should be a limit to how much physical damage you can absorb, right?"

After saying this, he took off two more rings. Which made Blue finally speak.

"You haven't been able to break my armour with all your attacks. Figuring out my ability isn't going to help you overcome that. You are weak"

This made Ichisuda smile.

He dashed forward at a speed Blue didn't think he could achieve, his fist swiftly connecting with Blue's jaw, breaking it and sending him flying into the hallway.

He sighed and put his rings back on before noticing all the blood in the hallway.

[I hope Izume is okay] he thought

Hirowa had been on the defensive the entire fight. He tried to minimise the damage to the museum so he blocked Red's attacks with hardened smoke instead and dodging the ones he couldn't block.

This defensive method prevented him from counter attacking. So, Red continued with the onslaught.

However, he lost concentration just as Black's domain became undone.

Zuno and his unconscious opponents stood in the same spot they had disappeared from and Red was surprised to see his friends had been defeated by one man.

"Brave of you to take your eyes off me" Hirowa said, as he wrapped smoke around Red's face as if it were a scarf, and then hardened it to prevent breathing.

Red struggled in vain, punching the hardened smoke on his face for several seconds but to no avail. He was unconscious a few seconds later.

Hirowa turned to Zuno, saw the burns and blood on his arms and asked, "you alright, Zuno?"

Zuno nodded in response, but he was clearly in pain. "Where are the kids?" He asked

"the 5 that were with you were spotted and had to run away, Izume and another one of these guys are chasing after them but Izume is in bad shape and so are you. I haven't heard anything from Ichisuda but-"

Zuno cut him off, "I'm fine Hirowa. Your ability is more suitable for binding these guys and making sure they do not become nuisances once they wake up.

I'll go after Izume and the kids"

Ichidusa walked in and added, "so will I. Just don't let these guys escape, Hirowa"

They nodded at each other and then the two men chased after the teens.

Chibi and her classmates had taken the back exit of the museum, which led to a forest. As they ran, Chibi communicated with the birds around, telling them to fly around herself and her classmates to keep watch and alert her if someone started following.

Rani led the pack through the forest, ducking under low branches when necessary and jumping over tree stumps.

The words of their principal and Hirowa ringing in their heads, constantly reminding them to keep running and avoid conflict at all costs.

Suddenly, the birds chirped frantically, causing Chibi to turn around quickly, which gave her enough time to lean back and dodge a kick from Lance.

As he landed on his feet, the kids realised that a confrontation might be unavoidable.

Fukuma spoke, saying, "Guys let's only defend ourselves. We are aware these guys have no problems killing children"

They began to walk backwards as he said this. Then Yashiro had an idea.

"Guys, huddle up. I have an idea." As they did so, he began giving instructions.

"Rani, create a sphere of toxins around us, kinda like a smoke screen. Naturally, we wouldn't be able to see him but Chibi, this is where you come in. Have the birds fly above us so we know when exactly he's coming. When he enters, we'll act accordingly."

When they began sprinting, Yashiro tried to achieve simultaneous activation once more but he failed to do this. He tried not to let this bother him.

Rani raised her hands and created the protective mist around them and the birds also began moving.

Lance stood there intrigued, he wondered what they were planning. [Do they think they can't be touched because I can't see them? I thought these kids were meant to be smart]

Rezu spoke before breathing and raising her hands "hold on Rani. Don't close the sphere yet"

As her hands went up, her eyes turned blue. The pools of water that had accumulated on the floor began gathering around her, taking the shape of Rani's sphere, while also spinning quickly in a clockwise direction, acting as the second level of defence.

So, Rani's poison mist acted as the first level of defence, it was one of her more potent versions of "knockout gas" but that was it's secondary purpose. It's primary purpose was to let her know when Lance breached the mist, giving away his exact position.

The spinning layer of water behind was put there by Rezu to slow Lance down once he breached the sphere.

Fukuma smiled, "good plan. I'll help out as much as I can" As he said this, he stretched his hand forward and activated his ability.

"He's exactly 11 metres away"

"How do you know that?" Yashiro asked, slightly surprised.

"The electronics on him give out certain signals which I can connect to and they're approximately 10.8 metres away"

"That's so cool" Yashiro added

Fukuma smiled and the boys focused on the task at hand.

The students were concentrating on using their abilities efficiently so they all remained silent. Outside the sphere, Lance grew impatient as he heard police sirens.

[I guess the we've run out of time] he thought, getting slightly annoyed. [I need to grab one of these kids and leave. The others should be making their exit right now]

He squatted, turning his legs into springs. His idea was to charge into the sphere as quickly as possible, grab Rani, who he believed was the lightest, and then run away.

He memorised their approximate locations before Rani put up her toxic mist screen so, he knew roughly where everyone was standing.

The concentration levels of the students remained high, specifically Chibi who was listening intently with a clear mind for minor fluctuations in the birds chirping.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was concentrating harder than ever or that she was in a high stakes situation or maybe a combination of both, but Chibi's mind was as clear as the waters of a spring.

The chirps began forming a shape within the tranquillity of her mind. They painted a clear picture of exactly what Lance was doing.

"He's crouching" She said, "I think he's going to launch himself at us." She paused for a few seconds before saying, "Here he comes"

Lance launched himself at the pinkish sphere. He closed the 11 metre gap in an instant but the students were prepared.

Between Fukumas precision and Chibi's vision, they knew exactly when and where he was coming from.

His face went through the mist first, inhaling the gas as he did so. The shift in the mist told Rani Lances exact location. Which allowed her to move out of the way as his hand came through.

Just as Rezu planned, the current of the water threw his aim off and slowed him down considerably, allowing Yashiro, who had expanded the muscles in his legs, to step in and hit him with a brutal kick to the side of the head.

Lance spun to the side, out of the sphere again and crashed hard into a tree.

Rezu and Rani dropped their domes of protection. The students were proud of themselves but that was short lived.

Unfortunately for them, right before the point of impact, Lance mimicked the qualities of a spring once more, but this time, on his neck and head, which in turn absorbed most of the damage from the kick, making it non-lethal.

The now angered Lance sprung to his feet and dashed at Rani, who was now defenceless. Grabbing her by the neck before bouncing off, increasing the distance between himself and the other students.

Upon seeing this, Yashiro instantly thought back to the incident at the academy when Shihata was injured and he immediately ran after them, rapidly closing the distance before realising that at some point between seeing Rani get grabbed, and him thinking about Shihata, he had achieved simultaneous activation.

Lance had always been the fastest around his peers for most of his life. So, naturally, he developed the idea that not many could ever catch up to him once he got going.

He turned around upon hearing rapid footsteps behind him and was extremely shocked seeing Yashiro catch up to him in such a short amount of time.

Yashiro saw a flash of blue light moving through the forest but continued running. He was determined to get Rani from his clutches.

Zuno suddenly emerged from the flash, standing in front of Lance, who was still mid air and then smacked him upwards. The sudden impact made him lose his grip on Rani but as she fell, Yashiro dove and caught her in his hands. She coughed and smiled at Yashiro, saying "thank you".

As Lance fell back to the floor, Zuno sent a bolt of lightning into his body, causing him to scream in pain.

Zuno checked if the kids were okay. He was pleased to see not a single one of his students had a scratch on them.

Ichisuda and Izume finally caught up, breathing heavily.

After things calmed down a little, the kids finally noticed how injured their teachers were.

They were particularly worried about Izume, who had clearly lost a lot of blood.

In the midst of the kids asking if their teachers were okay, Lance took his chance. He got up and in one swift motion, shot himself deeper into the forest, bouncing from tree to tree. He had somehow managed to escape even though Rani's toxins were starting to take effect.

Zuno was annoyed at the fact that he let Lance escape but he didn't give chase. He was just happy the kids were okay.

"Let's head back" He said

The police had already apprehended the rest of Lance's group by the time they got back.

One of the uniformed officers, Hasu Rozen spoke, addressing the group.

"Okay, everyone is back it seems. There was clearly use of powers here. Let's see some permits"

Zuno was enraged.

"Say that again" He said, as lightning flashed down his arm.

Hasu didn't hesitate to draw his gun, "are you threatening me?" He asked. Which caused 2 other officers to point their gun at him.

Ichisuda stepped in front of the kids, saying, "Zuno, calm down"

Hasu probed further. "Put your hands up"

Izume walked forward and so did Hirowa, both of them standing in front of Zuno.

"If you don't put those guns down within the next few seconds" Izume said, "I guarantee all of you will spend the next few weeks at the hospital. Now, that's a threat"

The officers could tell by the looks on their faces that this was not a bluff.

Luckily, at that point, Yagita Ryoshi walked in "officers, I'll take it from here please put your guns down and leave"

All did so except Hasu, who was annoyed that he had just been threatened.

"Officer Hasu. You may leave. Thank you"

He reluctantly put his gun down and walked away.

" I'm really sorry that just happened. I'll see to it that he apologises to all of you and that he's also penalised but please I need one of you to tell me what happened here"

Hirowa stepped forward and gave Yagita a detailed report of what had happened that day while medics attended to the wounds of his colleagues and made sure the kids were okay.

Afterwards, Yagita exited the museum only to be confronted by Hasu.

"They threatened all of us in there and you went in there and made it seem like that was okay"

"mind your tone when you speak to me Hasu. You were out of line in there and you're out of line now. Move out of my way this instant"

"I'll be reporting this detective Yagita"

"be my guest" She said, as she got back into her car "they filed a formal complaint against you. So, let's see how that goes for you"

She shut her car door and drove off