chapter [3]: Mysterious savior

{Rune}

I might have taken this situation too lightly... who would have known that this guy called Raven would go as far as almost choking me to death? It was probably not intended because he held a grudge but because he actually wanted to warn me with that. And I took it exactly as that. Next time I had to be more careful.

Still feeling a little dizzy I opened my eyes to find the apartment empty. Reading the time on my phone I must have been unconscious for about 10 minutes.

"Damn..." I hissed when getting up and feeling the pain in my stomach.

I had underestimated the gifted guy this time because I thought he might have enough moral standards to not attack so directly. I had been defenseless against his strength as soon as he had me in his grip and that was truly a terrifying feeling.

Even if I was a gifted one just as him I didn't know much about the groups, their rules or how they dealt with being discovered by humans.

So if I wanted to gain more knowledge about them I needed to somehow make them trust me or infiltrate their business...

And in case it'd come that far... I shouldn't take it so lightly. Grandma and sis were the ones who trained me to make maximum use of my power but I still was at the disadvantage in a fight because I neither had experience nor did I know how strong the others were.

In that moment I remembered the dagger that I hid in the small recording room. I opened the door almost hitting my face with it in the process to find the dagger inside the cloth still laying there on the small piano.

"He didn't take it..." I realized in both joy and horror. This thing wasn't important to me nor did I want to have it but following the fact that it was still here, the Inoue group would most likely come back for it when Raven realized he lost it. That way I'd be able to meet them again and eventually follow them.

Actually, I planned on simply following Raven right now, it'd be the fastest way to meet him again.

The catch in this was that he could end up attacking me like before but I had no problem taking that risk... it was exciting in a way. Don't get me wrong I wasn't masochistic... no... I, Rune Falcon, was lonely and searched for excitement in life that I never had because my family needed to hide. It was like I waited for this opportunity my whole life and today was the day I'd not waste my powers as a member of the said to be most dangerous gifted family there was anymore.

Every human being should have the right to live as who they are as long as they didn't harm anyone else and if someone broke that rule they shouldn't be surprised when I eventually will also break that rule for them.

2 minutes later I had already went out of the building, in a dark hoodie, wearning a mask and a small backpack in which I put the strange dagger, a knife, a bottle of water and some lollipops. I couldn't help but taking them with me for this small mission since I was 24/7 craving sweet foods.

Now I had to be fast to catch up to Raven and if my guess was right he couldn't have gone far without boots and chest naked. It was still freezing cold outside so if I was him I would've searched for a phone cell to call someone. So that was exactly where I went... in super speed likewise.

Once I got to the only phone cell that I knew existed around here I actually spotted that guy inside of it. Even if I had already suspected that, the possibility that he would really be here was very small. I got lucky this time.

A few moments later he already stepped out of it again and I watched closely from my hiding spot around the corner of an old bakery.

This phone cell was rather hidden and I was glad that no people were around here. Having accomplished that much already I let my eyes wander off for a second to check if we really were alone.

Later I realized that this was a pretty stupid idea because when I turned back around Raven was gone.

"Huh?" I found myself in confusion for a second when it seemed like he disappeared into thin air but when I heard a muffled groan coming from the near back alley things got more clear.

I followed the sound to witness two people putting a cloth in Raven's mouth and over his eyes while at the same time pulling him with them.

I didn't need to look twice to realize that these were the same uniforms that the corpses from before and the people in the factory building had been wearing. So this was 'Mellontikos'?

They surely knew how to find people... Silently, I watched them carrying Raven away who still desperately but hopelessly fought for his freedom.

That idiot would make his wounds worse, ugh! I had the longing to punsh something for the wasted effort I put into treating him but now wasn't the time.

These people carried him into a nearby back alley with a dead end between some large houses. No one would see them there for sure if it wasn't for me watching them.

"Take his backpack." One of them ordered the other. She sounded like a woman.

"Yes ma'am." The guy took the backpack from Raven and searched through it while the injured one himself had his head lowered like he had accepted that it was useless.

"The dagger is not inside of it." The guy in uniform showed her the empty insides and both the woman and Raven raised their heads.

"It's not? And I was sure, it was reported that the young Inue brat had taken it with him. Isn't that right?" He walked over to Raven who was leaning against the wall to forcefully pull the cloth out of his mouth.

"You are from the Inoue family, aren't you?" She sweetly asked but her voice was tense and threatening.

"What makes you think I'd tell you that, bitch?" He spat and managed to express arrogance in his face even though his eyes were covered.

"Hm, he is useless. Kill him."

"If you do that you'll never know who has the dagger." Raven cockily replied and started coughing soon after.

"And you'll tell me?"

"Who kn-" before he could finish his sentence the woman kicked his side aggressively causing him to fall to his side and cough again... this time blood. Did he have inner bleedings that I didn't know of?

"I shouldn't have asked this as a question. What I mean is, tell me or I'll need to torture you." She grinned and stepped on Raven's head with her high heels so it was pressed against the concrete.

That was enough, I couldn't look at that any longer. At first I thought I'd watch to get a better perspective on what was going down but I had no choice but to interfere or Raven would end up dying.

In less than a second I had knocked the guy down with a simple hit on his head. It was easy since he wasn't fast enough to react. The problem was the woman because when I tried doing the same to her I noticed that her skin was harder than normal humans. A skin hardening gifted one?

Startled from the attack the woman turned around to see who attacked her but I didn't plan on giving her a chance to see me because if she did I was screwed.

Instead I attacked her head again, this time with a brick that I smashed at her head with inhuman speed. I might not be stronger than an average young adult but the speed made up for it.

And as I thought, the attack succeeded and the woman went down unconscious, her head bleeding but probably she'd survive since I barely scratched her.

I continued to head over to Raven and place the clothed dagger from my bag into his hand before attempting to leave. If he called for someone to get him I didn't have much time until they were here and I couldn't be seen.

"Who are you?" Raven's dark voice stopped me for a second.

"If you belong to a gifted family then free my hands. I'll make sure to reward you well." he stated but I didn't answer and was about to go when he asked yet another thing.

"Wait! How did you get that dagger?" His voice did hint suspicion and I was aware that this was a critical situation I was in.

"You dropped it somewhere in town before a strange dude took you with him." I made my voice sound lower than it was, knowing I'd still sound believable that way. I had practised changing my voice out of boredom before and Raven still thought I picked him up somewhere in the city. In conclusion, he didn't remember what happend before that.

"Raven?!" I heard yells echoing through the alleys and immediately hid somewhere they couldn't see nor hear me.

If there were gifted ones among them that had a special sense of smell, hearing or people that were being able to sense gifted powers I was in trouble so I kept a large distance this time.

Now I just needed to follow them and see where they'd head of to. Berlin surely wasn't a place for them to stay for long since they got the dagger now.

{Raven}

"Vince! I'm here!!" I yelled and a few moments later the cloth covering my eyes was finally taken away as I saw my friend in front of me looking down at me with worry written on his face. Vince usually was a quiet and introverted person so seeing him worried must mean he actually had been scared for me.

"I found him... and the dagger." The tall brunette pressed a button on his earpiece to inform the others before squating down next to me and untying my hands.

"Thanks man but I could've easily done this myself." I told him and was about to get up when my shoulder sent waves of pain through my body and I was forced to let Vince help me.

"Raven, what did these people do to you here?" He glanced at the unconsious woman and man on the concrete.

"And... where are your clothes?" He continued wondering in a serious voice while taking his coat off and wrapping it around my naked upper body.

"I told you I'm fine, Vince. Stop worrying that big brain of yours." I reminded him as friendly as I could making the other sigh.

"You're so thic headed..."

"Guys! Woah, Rave what the hell happened to you?! You look even shittier than usual." A car suddenly held in front of them with Jane yelling out of it. Next to her on the drivers seat was Mr. Gray, the person with authority that accompanied us on our mission. He was in his usual attire, black sunglasses and black suit that fit perfectly. When I saw he was here my mood dropped even more.

Mr. Gray would surely scold me and I hated that more than anything.

"Stfu, at least I got the dagger, noob." I fired back at Jane before she could push me into the backseat of the car.

I waited for Vince to join but he was still facing the dead end of the alley.

"Vince, don't fall asleep here." I chuckled at him making the tall brunette come back to his sense.

"Oh uhm... I was lost in thoughts for a second."

During the car ride I had to explain what happened while Vince took care of the wound that opened up again.

"So you woke up in a human's apartment, threatened to kill him after he saved you but didn't make sure he saw nothing of the gifted ones?" Mr. Gray repeated in that low voice of his that didn't fit his rather young age in his early thirtys.

I didn't need to answer that question though because he already knew the answer.

"Oh lord... We'll need to go check on him before we leave. We can't risk getting discovered by him or worse, making him a target for Mellontikos." Mr. Gray breathed out in exhaustion and again I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I did screw up a little after all so even if I really felt like joking to cope with it, I was aware that it would only make things worse.

"But that isn't important right now, Mr. Gray, right?" Jane interrupted the pressing silence when she turned on her seat to glance at me with curious eyes. It was so different to Vince's eyes that seemed tired all the time.

"You said there was someone who beat up all these Mellontikos people in the alley and took the dagger from them after they took it from you?" She repeated what I had told them. Yeah, I had changed it a little bit because admitting that I actually lost the dagger somewhere would only stain my honor even more.

"Yeah..." I slowly replied and noticed everyone focussing on me again.

"I'm pretty sure it was a dude but when I asked him who he was and even offered him to be rewarded he left." I explained what happened trying to remember what his voice had sounded like. It did not make sense to me why that person should not reveal their identity. If they were on our side there was nothing to fear by doing that. It was a common thing to switch to groups even if you weren't part of their family. Vince for example was part of the Vernez family but joined our group because he wanted something new.

"If he eliminated two Mellontikos members, one of them being high ranked, in such a short time he must be trained well... he could be part of another gifted family with high influence." Mr. Gray stated.

"Did you pick up how he defeated them?" Vince wanted to know.

"No, it happend in less than 3 seconds..." I muttered feeling slightly angered by the fact that this arrogant guy didn't reveal who he was. What made him so special that he even refused to free my hands? It pissed me off.

"Sir, the most influential group in Germany, the Bernstein family has their headquarters in Munich but it's not unusual for them to send members to the capital for various reasons." Vince reported while checking something on his phone.

"The closest group to Berlin would be the König group, they aren't focusing on training their members to fight though since their main gifted power is photographic memory and incredible calculating skills. They lead a big industry and several universities so it's unlikely the man was part of them." he added and I noticed a frown on his hidden forehead.

"Thank you, Vincent. I'll see if I can contact them. For now we can't know much about the man's intentions or whether he was actually just passing by which isn't unlikely. If that's the case we should make sure to thank him." Mr. Gray gave me a strange glare through the mirror at the front dissolving in me doing a loud exhale.

Why should I thank that guy when he didn't even free me. I'd surely have survived without his help just fine.

And anyways we had more important things to take care off like the transportation of the dagger to our headquarters in LA. There was always a risk that we could be attacked by Mellontikos or other people again so I shouldn't waste my time thinking about needing to thank a person that didn't want to be seen in the first place...