Chapter 4, Unrequited

"Alice! There you are!"

Austin and Preston ran until they met Alice, who was leaning up against a nearby building.

"How did you...even get in front of us?" Austin stated as he leaned over, desperately trying to recover his lost breaths.

"Leaping from roof to roof makes things alot quicker." Alice stated.

She walked up to Austin and pushed him to the ground.

"Look at you." She said as she examined the condition he was in. "You're sweaty, you're dirty, you're out of shape. You look like a total moron."

Alice left Austin there and walked towards their uncle.

"When is he going to start his training?" Alice asked as she crossed her arms.

"It's already started, sweetheart." Preston replied as he turned to Austin.

"What is going on?" Austin inquired as he stood straight. "You two seem to be alot more in the loop than I am right now."

"It's alot to explain." Preston stated. "I guess we can start with...who we are."

"Who we are?" Austin uttered.

"We're a family that make a living off becoming militia for anyone who can afford to buy our services. We are security guards. We are assasins. We are soldiers. We are whoever we need to be when called upon." Alice explained.

"Really?" Austin replied. "Well, I knew about our parents joining the military. But, we live on Orange Peak. If they made so much money, why are we here?"

"We're here because our lineage makes us wanted." Preston responded. "There's alot of bad people who would love to have the opportunity to hold you two for ransom."

"That would explain why Alice is suddenly so cool. But, why am I just finding out about this now?" Austin expressed. "Why is she able to do all of these things that i'm not? It's as if she's been here before."

"Sorry to give her material to tease you about, but she is simply much more advanced than you." Preston admitted. "She started training a few years ago."

Austin glanced at Alice, who was clearly teasing him by making a face.

"It's okay though. Because your training begins now." Preston explained. "You learn how to utilize that suit correctly, and we can work on you getting a real one."

"A real one?" Austin asked.

"The utility suit isn't the full thing." Preston explained. "I created it and worked on it just enough so that it could serve two purposes. One, to keep people like Raiya and Seiji away. Two, to make your training as thorough and efficient as possible."

"Okay." Austin replied. "I'm ready."

"It's going to be hell from this point on." Preston warned. "Even when you're finished training, we still have many hard times to go through."

"I know." Austin stated. "I'm ready."

"Then so am I." Preston stated. "We have to relocate first and then we'll get started."

*MEANWHILE, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN*

"What is taking so long?" The big boss stated. "They should've been back by now."

"With all due respect, I did recommend for you to choose someone alot more skilled than those two to handle your business." A woman replied. "If you would've sent me from the beginning, it would've been done by now."

"Don't scold me, Suzume." He replied. "Since it turns out that you're actually right about those two, I'm sending you to fix it."

"Gladly." Suzume replied.

As Suzume left to go finish the mission assigned to Raiya and Seiji, Simone had them in a desperate struggle for life.

*POW* *POW* *POW*

Once Simone pulled the trigger, a strong gust of wind was propelled and pierced through Raiya's body. His body was now full of holes, with the latest three shots putting one in his shoulder, wrist, and ankle.

"You guys better stop holding your tongue." Simone warned. "I'm going to run out of places to shoot soon."

"I can offer a fresh start." Simone heard a feminine voice say from behind.

Simone swiftly turned around as she aimed her gun towards the direction of the voice. In one singular movement, the person she saw closed in on her and grabbed the barrel of the gun.

"Suzume!" Raiya noticed.

"So, you work with those two?" Simone uttered as she struggled for control over the gun.

"I'm moreso the one that always has to bail them out." Suzume replied as she kept a firm grip on Simone's pistol. "You'll find that out soon enough."

Suzume let go of Simone's pistol. Reactively, Simone went to pull the trigger but before she could, Suzume leaped past her and disabled her disc. When she did this, Raiya and Seiji gained their movement back.

"Leave here and report back to the boss." Suzume instructed. "I'll take care of this."

"Not so fast!" Simone stated as she aimed her pistol at them and pulled the trigger.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Once each of the three bullets came close to Suzume, she revealed a necklace with a massive pendant. It was circular and gold with a pyramid in the middle with an single eye at the top of it. The pendant began glowing as the bullets froze in mid-air. Raiya and Seiji were able to slip away and retreat behind a nearby building.

"So you have the ability to freeze things?" Simone observed. "That explains why my suit stopped functioning."

"It's the Vision Breaker." Suzume stated as she flashed the pendant. "It enables the control over whatever it catches in its sight."

"I guess we can call this checkmate." Simone stated as she dropped her pistol. "What is it that you want?"

"Just a bit of information." Suzume stated. "I can tell that thing over there is your suit, so that means you work for somebody. Who is it?"

"We're just a small group of people trying to survive." Simone answered.

"Survive?" Suzume repeated. "So, why would you pick a fight with my guys?"

"Government offers a hefty price for people like you. That's all there is to it." Simone replied.

"You wouldn't happen to know the three people we we're after, would you?" Suzume asked. "A man named Preston and his nephew and niece."

"Just met them today." Simone replied. "His nephew was about to demonstrate the suit before I recognized who those two guys were and intervened."

"Thanks for the information." Suzume stated. "Since you were honest, I'll let you live for now. I'm going to restrict your movement while I leave, but once I'm a good distance away, the Vision Breaker will lose its effect."

"No way." Simone thought as she smiled. "I can't let you get away. You're worth double those two losers combined."

Suzume's escape attempt was thwarted once Simone's suit began beeping.

*BEEP* BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Once Suzume noticed, she reached for her Vision Breaker, which began glowing again.

"My Sky Walk Suit unique function allows me to manipulate the sky, air, and wind!" Simone exclaimed. "But, there's a hidden unique function. If the control of the suit is to be overridden, it will commence the Air Lock sequence I programmed into it! Every tangible item becomes targeted by the air surrounding it. Once it comes into contact with your body, the air will lock it up, essentially stopping time and motion for everyone within a certain radius except for me!"