04-The Reaper

"Is that a fucking gun?" A student beside me shouted out. Amused I let out a chuckle as I recollected what Myla could do. Similar to that of Shiro in a way she was able to control the trajectory and landing area of any projectile.

Annalise seemed to be taken aback as she paused with her lightning dying with it. Soon however it ramed right back up as Myla began to load the pistol.

"Uh... Is that allowed? What if she shoots her, and like she dies?" A student had asked Professor Orrelios.

He smiled as he shrugged. "Many students with weapon-utilizing abilities have been cleared by the school. Like Shiro." He said pointing to him. He seemed to be minding his business as he fiddled with his phone. "He can't use an actually sharpened blade unless it's an outside field exercise, or against nonliving targets. In effect, he can't use his gene seeing as the sharpness of his blades is able to sever limbs like butter."

"I'm sure she has similar restrictions." He smiled once again before tossing a glance at me. "And if not I'm sure someone will save Annalise." I squinted my eyes at him dismissively before I turned back to the battle at hand.

The magazine Myla was using had a small piece of yellow tape at the bottom. She seemed to check in before cocking the gun. Annalise now had quite a serious expression as even her eyes began to crackle with bright blue electricity.

She rushed forward to Myla with her hand extended in a fist, flinging herself at her she crashed into the other girl. Or what we assumed was Myla, in reality, a bright orange force field has erected itself as a bubble around Myla. No matter how hard Annalise punched it seemed as if no attack would land.

The crowd around me arose in shock and surprise. Before Annalise could retaliate against the popup shield a small hole appeared right in front of her chase, opening from the bubble which was small enough for Myla to slip her slender arms out of.

A consecutive series of bangs quickly followed as we watched rubber balls eject themselves from the pistol crashing into Annalise's stomach and knocking her flat on the ground.

Orrelios rose up and ran to the field.

Holding Myla's hand up as if she were a boxing champaign he announced her victor.

"Aww... that was kinda lame."

"Yeah, but that Myla chick is strong. Did want to see more of the lightning though. Seemed like kind of a waste of a reveal."

"Well then... Next up, Shiro versus Kaine, the first one to seem incapacitated is deemed the loser. Blood is fine but anything I deem too strong could end with expulsion. So remember hold back, all you need to do is get your, opponent, on the ground and out." He explained staring almost directly at me.

I glanced down at the ring on my hand wondering if I should take it off. Would it be worth it? Was this "Shiro" that strong?

Didn't matter, not to me anyway. The inside of my mouth felt like cactus skin and tasted of citrus acid. I wanted to fight. I could feel it inside me, the itching, the scratch that could only be fixed by letting loose.

Shiro looked at me and picked up a wooden stick. From beside him, closing his eyes and waving his hand over the end of the branch it formed itself into a polished staff.

He could do that?

We both walked to where Myla and the now conscious Annalise were, as we seemingly swapped places with them sitting down pretty close to where the two of us had sat.

Shiro walked up to me putting his hand out. He flashed me a smile before reading his staff.

"Let's have a good fight, yeah?" He asked. I looked down at his extended hand before shaking it.

He jumped back nearly twenty feet getting himself into a somewhat decent fighting stance. In the corner of my eye, I caught a foreign invader arriving at our group.

It was the lady from the van or Cheif Yukiko.

What the hell was she doing here? She was wearing a white blazer accompanied by a black pencil skirt. I'd be lying if I said she didn't look good, but still what the hell was she doing here?

She had two things in her arm; A camera and a notebook. Was she here to take notes? Or was she here to watch me? In the past id never worked let alone met her at the B.V.A, so could she have heard the stories? About the old me?

She stood up as she prepared the camera on a tripod that seemed to appear from nowhere. As well as a chair that popped into existence as she began a sitting motion.

"That's cool..." I whispered to myself before turning back to Shiro. He had begun a series of exercises. All in all, he looked pretty badass.

"Now, students. You may begin." Yukiko stated. Before I knew it Shiro had already closed in space! He swung his staff straight towards my head, I assumed for a quick finish.

With the chief here was she looking to see how strong I was? If so would it be better to show off or hold back? If I were to hold back would she see me as useless to the B.V.A? And if I showed off would she deem me too strong?

I continued thinking about the possibilities of what would happen and soon realized I had been evading Shiro's attacks. Yukiko's eyes were glued on me, and mine on hers.

So that confirmed my suspicion... She was here for me. The staff continued to whizz around my ears and the constant noise was getting on my nerves. I knew the combat training was tournament style, Hiemsel had stated that already. A fire in my chest had lit itself as I continued listening to the staff pass my ears.

Was this it? Would today be the day I took the ring off? And let... Him come back?

"..."

"..."

The noise around me had ceased and I took myself out of my thoughts. Looking toward Shiro I realized he looked pretty pissed off. Was it because I hadn't attacked yet? That would make sense... I suppose

Did he think I was disrespecting him? How amusing, I clenched my fist and as I saw Shiro gearing up to run back to me I put them up.

He halted his steps as he saw me finally paying attention to him.

"So... You finally gonna take this seriously huh?" He asked cracking his neck in an almost corny manner.

"Yeah, I'll take you seriously," I responded.

I got into a basic fighting stance, capoeira. I doubt he knew but I wasn't taking him seriously in the slightest. Capoeira was a series of dance-like moves that could be claimed to be fighting. Was it effective? Yeah, was it realistic? Not an ounce. But it's fine all put him down anyway.

We were now only meters away from one another. The dirt on the ground began to circle at his feet, while his eyes gleamed with adrenaline. He was truly going for a one-shot? If he wanted to end it quickly then so be it.

He flung himself speeding towards me as a bullet with the staff pointed in my direction, stepping to the side I quickly evaded before delivering one single knee to his stomach... What I thought would stagger him ended up putting him on the ground.

Even with his darker skin, the redness of his face was apparent. He clutched his side with such vigor as he rolled around in pain as he screamed.

Orrelios rushed to our spot before pushing me away from Shiro.

"Are you okay?!" He shouted crouching down before his student rolling him on his back.

Shiro seemed to be frustrated. Perhaps because Rey asked such a dumb question? Had I not held back? But what did I even need to hold back for?

I asked myself before looking down at the ring on my finger.

Shiro never responded and instead continued to shout in fits of pain, anger, and frustration. Orrelios pulled out a small bottle that was only the size of an average eyedrop container. He shook it up slightly before opening the cap and dunking the contents in Shiro's mouth.

Moments later he sprung up, with a surprised expression plastered on his face.

"..." He said nothing as he glared at me.

"You... you hit me in the fuckin' liver." He shouted as he marched to my position.

"Oh... Sorry." I stated before turning around to be met with Yukiko right behind me.

Our faces almost clashed, well really our torsos? Maybe, she was fairly tall. Or at least for Asian references. About 5'7, well I suppose that would be a bit taller for women even in the states.

I stared into her eyes before I began to talk once again.

"Are you really Inori's kid? I thought he was infertile. Or are you like... adopted?" I asked out loud.

She seemed to be taken aback by my random insistence.

"Um... yes? I am his daughter." She responded with an obviously angry expression even as she tried to hold it back.

Recollecting the powers she presented before the fight I did something on impulse.

I quickly threw a punch as hard as I could targeting the side of her skull. Within moments a black distortion of space appeared and from it, a long, flat shield presented itself blocking my attack.

"Hmm... Space distortion? So you are his offspring... He never told me about you." I said reeling my arm back from the shield.

"What the hell was that?!" She shouted at me bewildered.

"Answer me first, why are you here? Trying to spy me out, offer me a spot on the B.V.A?" I asked dipping my head to match hers on each word.

She quickly swat my face out of the way as I seemingly got too close.

"No, I came here to let you know we found the guy who... Well, we found the terrorist responsible for your parent's death as well as the other students. I suppose the right word is he found us, he said he'd give himself up as long as he got to speak to you, in private." She answered me walking away from me and towards Orrelios.

They shared a glance at each other before briefly looking toward me.

Orrelios nodded and approached me in whispered in a hushed tone.

"Are you..." He paused collecting his thoughts. "You think you're gonna take off the ring?" He asked.

I looked down once again as I twisted it around my finger. Thinking for only a moment I responded.

"No clue, also I know this whole thing tournament style, let Shiro win. Say I was disqualified."

Orrelios simply nodded in approval before walking back.

***

[Bureo Of Variant Activities, Headquarters-???]

"Sir! Only taking four people is dangerous alone but all four are rookies! This is ridiculous, at least take me, or the chief's daughter!" A man shouted to a figure in front of him smoking a cigarette.

"The 'chief's daughter' is the chief god damnit, when are you going to learn some respect, Gomez?" He said chuckling and taking another drag.

The man or Gomez continued his rant. "You know what I meant sir. Minami has done great things for the organization, she's just a bit new. I fully respect her and her endeavors." Gomez responded.

The two men were inside something akin to an investigation room, looking over files of images that were tucked inside multiple yellow folders.

"To think he's damn near an adult now feels like just yesterday I taught him how to ride a bike." He said, his accent was thick and British. He adorned a face covered in scars with a thick black beard. He was missing his right ear as well as a patch of hair and skin on the side of his head. For the rest it was dark black hair tied in a man bun.

The image in his hand was of a young boy; with pale skin, stark white hair, and deep crimson eyes.

***

Outside the academy grounds, a helicopter was prepared for the two of us, after around an hour of travel, we landed on the roof of an abandoned corporate building. If my geography was correct we had flown to somewhere in Washington.

"He's inside, here take this," Yukiko said handing me an earpiece.

"I'm going back to the office but D.C Maxwell's here, as well as four rookies so if you need anything, say the safe word." She instructed. She walked back to the helicopter and spoke a few words to the pilot.

"Hmm? What safeword? What do you mean." I asked her my brow raising.

She smirked walking back towards me. "I've never seen you in the field, but I swear my dad loved telling me stories about you, about the...

***

"Kaine Lenoir? That's his name? Doesn't seem like that much of a big shot." A man said.

He spoke to the four men around him. The group of five consisted of highly trained B.V.A agents, Deputy Chief Maxwell, and Special Agent: Harp, Taylor, Cooper, and Shepherd. Four new agents, who seemed to be a bit wet behind the ears.

"This other guy, Adam... Well just adam, no last name. A-Rank variant. You sure you wanna leave Lenoir in there?" Harp asked looking at a holographic database appearing from his watch.

Maxwell chuckled as he inspected his weapons. "You just don't get it, do you? That isn't just some 'kid', Lenoir's been here just as long as I have."

"What!" The men shouted in surprise in tandem. They all dropped their jaws as they heard the words of Maxwell.

They were on the third floor of the office building directly underneath Kaine and Adams.

"He's only 17, seven years ago his father Quantum, or Allen Lenoir couldn't apprehend an S-Rank Variant. He had knocked him unconscious but there was no way to either A. Keep him out and powerless, or B. Alive. A week later some kid walks in with a neck collar that not only controls powers but renders them useless, even higher than A-Rank." Maxwell said.

Lighting a cigarette he continued.

"Two years after that, this twelve-year-old brat walks in with three S-Rank terrorists from morocco."

Harp spoke up once again. "You mean the Red boys?! I heard about them, B.V.A had been trying to get those fuckers for months."

Maxwell nodded in agreeance.

"Yep, we had been trying to get them for seven months, yet they continued to evade us. The terrorist behind the deaths of over 3,000 innocent lives dodge the grasp of the largest organization of variants but couldn't fight against a 12-year-old. It took him two days."

Maxwell finished his rant about Lenoir before taking a long puff of his cigarette and saying another statement.

"Around the world, he's known as different things, in the UK they call him The Crimson Knight, in certain places deeper in Europe he's known as Dracula, in Japan his name is Akai Tenshi or the red angel. But here in the states? It's something a bit more simple, something so simple yet inflicts fear in the hearts of criminals all over the country and respect all over the agency."

A quick grin appeared on his face before disappearing.

"Here, we just call him Reaper."