Chapter 2: Nine-tailed fox?

The boy finally regained his composure after a few seconds of fear. He gritted his teeth but no words came out. Audrey repeated " I'm waiting ya know. you haven't answered my question yet". this made the boy gulp. there's was something about this lady that made him wanna run away, far far away. it wasn't because she was using any powers, simply put... she seemed less scary a few minutes ago.

Nevertheless, the boy mustered enough courage and said( stuttering though) " y- you , you have a quirk or what?, you're not fooling me". Audrey yelled in response " What? should I wear a mark that says I have powers on my forehead? as it is, you don't even know if I have the power to turn you into a toad..." she paused, pointed a finger at him then smiled before completing "... or just flat out make you croak". At that point, the boy, not just the boy, the whole gang realized something important. even if the most powerful person on earth passed by them as they walked on the street, how are they supposed to know? same applied to the person in front of them. they know nothing about her, but still babbled on calling her powerless.

As they reflected, they heard Audrey say " honestly. calling me a bitch? didn't your mother teach you manners? I guess I'll have to teach you some myself", however, they immediately took to their heels, turning around in an attempt to escape. however they were greeted with a shock. they hadn't even taken more than four steps before Audrey appeared right in front of them, scaring their very souls out of them. it was like a ghost appeared in front of them.

How the hell did she move so fast?

" where are you going?"

some of them began to cry and apologize but Audrey was already tired of hearing their screams and told them to leave. they all turned around and ran as fast as their legs could carry them with the snake slithering away with them. with only the two of them left, Audrey looked at the girl who also seemed slightly afraid before bursting into a fit of Laughter. the girl, although initially shocked, replayed the scene that just happened over again and began to laugh hard as well.

Audrey then said as she laughed " haha it was only a simple prank, why did they have to freak out so much"

the girl immediately stopped laughing, scrunched her face and said "dont you know how scary you looked just now? where did you learn to do that miss?"

Audrey looked at the girl and laughed a bit more before replying " back in elementary school. it's how I told the guys to lay off. didn't know it could even scare 12 year olds" the girl looked away then mumbled " 12 year olds? forget that, it could scare off a grizzly bear" Audrey gave the girl a puzzled look before helping her stand up.

From her deduction, it seems the girl had no powers whatsoever which was why she was easy to pick on. the girl thanked Audrey before goings her way. Audrey looked towards the direction the group went. ' its always like this ',she thought. she smiled remembering when she was in elementary school.

some people around the world were born with special powers. these powers were classified into three ranks according to how powerful it is. the lowest ranked powers were refered to as quirks. the middle ranked were known as gifts while the highest ranked were called abilities. there aren't too many ability users since high level powers like that aren't common. if it were to be measured. Roughly 70% of the population are regular humans. some don't even have knowledge of the existence of powers as most prefer to keep it hidden. Usually only the ghetto areas and Rich elites share common knowledge of the existence of powers. 15% have quirks. simple abilities such as being able to direct a snake or to turn stones into balls and what not. simple powers that ordinarily would not affect everyday life depending on how one uses it. 10% have gifts. telekenisis, mind control, super speed, control over elements and so on. the remaining 5% constitute those with abilities. powers that go beyond what people can easily say. the ability to kill someone by merely thinking about it, stopping or altering time, pure destructive force. Powers that can cause major problems. of course not all destructive. some are rather passive abilities. having the knowledge contained in every book In the world is an example. seeing events before it happens in the future. Those are known as Abilities.

In some places where powers are no secret, such as poor areas like ghettos or Rich socialites schools, it is required for students to state their power status in their school records as well as give their power a name. they don't have to state what their power is though. This was the case in Audrey's school. Those who had gifts bullied those who were powerless or had quirks.

Audrey also had powers. She had enhanced agility and speed. one could say she was swift in movement. she had considered it a quirk rank since it was nothing too special.

However, she realized something the day before she began school. she was on her way home that day, trying to cross the road. unfortunately, a driver, probably not someone who knew Delv city well or else he wouldn't have used such speed on the infamous Delv death traps they called roads.

The car lost it's balance on the ground while trying to accelerate speed and before anyone really understood what was going on, the car was tumbling down the street to where little Audrey was. And then it happened...

The car hit Audrey before finally stopping. fortunately, it did not blow up unless it would have caused more casualties. She died. Audrey was sure of that. it wasn't a pillow that hit her, it was a fucking car. she could hear the screams of people before she died. She felt like she was in a trance, some form of Limbo. then after a while, she began to see a little light. The warm sun rays hit her skin. she was sitting on the grass in a meadow. The ambiance was very welcoming but that wasn't what she was paying attention to.

In front of her, sat an animal with multiple tails. she counted 9 tails on the animal. she, at first thought it was a cat, but looking at it again, it was actually a fox. she could hear the wind swishing as all nine tails wagged in the air. they continues to do so until one of the tails faded away leaving only 8 remaining. She looked into the fox's eyes for a brief moment before it disappeared. No it didn't disappear, she woke up

she opened her eyes, she could still hear the commotion caused by the accident. The driver sustained injury as well but it wasn't fatal. At that time, The driver turned to look at the dead girl but was dumbfounded and afraid when he saw the girl who was dead a minute ago, seated there, staring at him as well. He felt his heart jump out of his mouth as he went closer to her. he was so shocked. he looked at her wide eyed and asked stuttering" how? how are you....wh-where did your injuries go? wha... ha-how is this possible?". it was then Audrey's realized that all the cuts, bruises and openings she should've had from the impact were all gone. there was still blood that had stained her, but nothing more. She knew it has to be related to her powers but seeing as the driver was a normal human, she had to get rid of his questions. She then replied him in her little voice " I ummm I just fainted okay? nothing more". The driver looked even more confused " No that's not possible ,eh you... you weren't breathing a-and you.... you had no pulse", he argued. but Audrey was witty and said " my pulse stops for a while when I faint because of the shock....it's a---- medical issue. it happens" . the driver's shoulder slumped and he said in a very low voice "but.... you died". Audrey's took that opportunity and retorted " would you have preferred that I was dead. shouldn't you be happy I'm alive instead of wondering WHY I'm alive. were you planning on killing me?" she then pretended to cry as though she was wronged. even at that young age, she was already very cunning. The driver, not wanting to incur more trouble, apologized to the crying little girl, helped her up and asked if she was alright. Audrey quickly replied that she was fine and ran home.

The driver watched her speechlessly. He would only understand that blood didn't materialize from thin air when he finally calmed down and thought about it.

Audrey got home and locked the door. she was also very afraid and confused. she decided to take a bath to wash off the blood then she sat down and thought about it. she finally understood her ability. The nine tails on the Fox were her lives. she had died once which meant she had eight lives left. her original agility and speed were traits of the Fox. She reassessed and realized that she didn't have a quirk. the power to die and resurrect 9 times was nothing short of an ability. she also felt that after reviving, her speed and agility increased by about 10% if she were to measure it. she decided to keep this to herself. people with abilities are usually hunted down and recruited for special purposes either by the government or by evil organizations.

she went to school the next day and filled out her form with her power rank as a gift since it was a bit too strong for a quirk. She also named her gift. she showed it to her mom at that time who looked at her questioningly and asked with raised eyebrows " Nine-tailed fox?" she replied " mmhmm. because I'm as swift as a fox" she grinned widely making her mom think she was only having fun but in reality, Audrey chose that name because it fit the description of her ability perfectly. A nine tailed fox with enhanced agility, speed and nine lives-now -1. she made up her mind to live as low profile as possible. once she finished school.

..... Only she didn't know, that couldn't last forever.