The Twins - Part 1

It was a moody day in Aster City. The streets were buzzing, as usual, thronging with people going about their day. The usually clear sky was now adorned by clouds that covered up the sun. At this time an old man dressed in a simple white shirt and baggy blue pants strolled through the city streets. His grey hair could be seen turning white in some places, and his rough beard traced his tanned face. Wrinkles and age couldn't seem to wipe away his inherent charisma that shone through the ages. His aged eyes shone with a mischievous light as he took in the city sights.

He was currently walking along the food district lined with stores and stores of food. The delicious smell permeated through the air and hung like dew on every corner of the street. The old man took a deep breath and smiled excitedly. He started to browse through the stores and finally decided on a smoothie store. 'What...amusing names...' thought the old man as he read some of the names. 'Polikiwiganate', 'Appilio', 'Escure', etc. Ordering what he assumed was the pomegranate smoothie, the man proudly walked away with a bag of smoothies made of kiwis and some additives. Taking a sip from one of the cups, the old man finally decided it was time to greet the....curious onlookers who had been tailing him.

After a few minutes, the old man could be seen enjoying his smoothie near the edge of the metropolis. In front of him, rows and rows of housing could be seen. But these houses were nothing like the ones in the city. They weren't necessarily bad, but when compared....well there was no comparison at all. Along the rows of houses were sensors to detect fluctuations of people using their gifts. 'Hmm, they've certainly improved the housing here since the last time I was here' the man thought taking the last sip from his drink. He turned right into an alley that had a trash disposal unit and reached out to dispose of his empty cup.

Suddenly a small figure dashed out from behind the unit and jumped toward the man. The man easily sidestepped the figure, flung the empty cup up at an exposed ledge, and then grabbed the first figure with his free hand. Fluidly executing these movements, the startled yelp of a young boy and girl sounded out in the alley.

"Let me go you old man," a young boy struggled in his grasp. The young girl grabbed the empty cup thrown at her and then jumped from the ledge towards the man.

"HYyaaah!" throwing the cup at his face she twisted herself towards the young boy in hopes of freeing him from that old geezer. But alas, the man just dropped the drinks he was holding, swatted the cup and then proceeded the grab the girl as well.

"Well well, aren't you a couple of smart kids?" The man chuckled.

"Let us go you geezer!" the girl shouted.

"Yeah, let us go", the boy echoed, struggling even harder. But what could a couple of half-starving kids do to him especially being this weak? So he held both of them like he was holding a small animal in each hand and sat down. Not minding the fists and kicks coming his way, the man continued "Now why should I let you go after you tried to assault me?"

"Because we weren't planning to assault you, we just wanted some food", the girl argued.

"Semantics," the man rolled his eyes. "You still tried to steal from a weak old man."

The kids stopped struggling for a moment before their eyes popped out in disbelief. Weak? Him? Who was he talking about? The granny from the bakery?

"And who would believe that you are weak," scoffed the boy. The girl nodded vigorously while trying to free herself from his iron clamp of a hold. The man let out a laugh, "Well, you guys are just too weak."

During the conversation, the old man took a good look at his....captives. The two kids, around the age of four, were similar-looking, most likely twins. The girl had dirty blond hair with crimson eyes. The boy had the same dirty blond hair but shorter with pale red eyes. Both the kids had worn-out clothes, dirty and fraying at the ends. The kids didn't look much better, their bones jutting out at the joints looking to tear through their stretched skin at any point.

"Old man, what are you going to do with us?" The boy suddenly asked, snapping the man out of his observations.

"Well I suppose, I could eat you two." The man mused.