Chapter 16 - Failure

Point-of-View: Alexis Tucker

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Ugh, this sucks...how long have I been in here? And for how much longer am I going to be stuck in here anyway? I mean, sure, there's food and it's comfortable, but not knowing when I'll leave is a bit disconcerting. Plus, my phone's dead and I don't see a charger anywhere.

Wait, what if that guy tricked me? Yeah, maybe he's actually some super-powered pervert whose been watching me this whole time!? I didn't spot any cameras or anything, but if he can open portals, then maybe he can spy on people too. Okay, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but-...

"Hey, there, I'm back. Really sorry, I kinda maybe sort of forgot about you and-," He began apologetically, as a portal suddenly opened and he walked through, startling me out of my thoughts...

"Okay, now that was suspicious," I frowned, before backing away warily, "I was literally just thinking that you might be spying on me, and a second later, you appear-...huh? Wait, hold on, back up a sec, did you just say that you forgot about me!?"

"...yup. My bad, I was just preoccupied with-," He responded sheepishly, before I cut him off with an electrifying punch aimed at his face.

Right before I could connect, a portal opened in front of his face, my fist going through it, as a second portal opened inches to the left of the first one, my fist emerging out of it and grazing the right side of my face, my body freezing in terror for a moment...th-that was way too close, I just barely avoided smashing my own face in by a matter of inches...

"Come on, I said I was sorry, that was a bit of an overreaction," He remarked with a wry smile, before warning me, "Also, you should pull your fist back already. Because if I close the portals, your arm will get severed."

I quickly drew my arm back in alarm, before glaring at him fiercely as he closed the portals, a feeling of frustration and indignation welling up inside me.

"Tch, whatever. You gonna let me out of this room now or what?" I inquired bluntly, getting straight to the point.

"Yup, that's why I'm here. Including you, I've now found and brought back three of those that came across Meta-Orbs. I suppose I might as well introduce you to them, since you're all in the same boat and all," He suggested with a smile.

Huh? I, uh, thought it'd be harder to convince him to let me out of this room. That was way easier than I thought...and it sounds like he managed to kidnap two others. I suppose he has a point about them being in the same boat as me...I don't really care about meeting them or whatever, but I've had enough of being trapped in this stupid room, so...why not, I guess...

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Point-of-View: Richard Walsh

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This mission is beneath me...but even so, failing to accomplish it is unacceptable. I was stationed in Australia, when I was suddenly ordered to go to New Zealand and take a certain target into custody. I could hardly believe my ears...artificial Meta-Humans now exist, possibly upto nine of them.

No, actually, ten including that twintailed Eden guinea pig. Before this, historically, there have been no artificial Meta-Humans whatsoever...there have been rare cases of regular humans accidentally awakening their Meta gene, typically after going through incredible hardships or mental stress. But while forced, those instances were still naturally induced...kinda.

This Meta-Orb project, had I known about it prior to this, I'd have objected to it for sure. And now that I do know about it, I would propose solving this problem by killing all of those that have come into contact with the Meta-Orbs, before they learn to control their newfound powers and become too powerful.

However, it isn't my call to make, so it's a moot point. From what I've been told, these artificial Meta-Humans possess Auras of even greater capacity than us Category 0s, that makes them incredibly dangerous. And if Eden end up capturing some of them, we'll be forced to use the ones that we capture as weapons against those ones.

Still, this entire thing reeks of suspicion...first, how did they even manage to create such objects? I can't imagine that they used any normal methods to do so, because if such a thing was possible, it would have been done ages ago. So, then, how exactly were these Meta-Orbs created in the first place?

I doubt that I'll be able to simply guess the right answer, and the higher ups aren't going to be telling me anything. After they basically forced me into accepting this mission, I asked them about the Meta-Orbs but they said that it was classified. So I won't be getting any answers, not anytime soon, at least.

Hm, I suppose that I should introduce myself. My name is Richard Walsh, twenty-eight years of age. I have light blonde, almost white, hair that I grow long, falling over my forehead in the front and halfway down my back from behind. I have green eyes, a pale, freckled complexion and a sleek, strong build.

And as for my current mission, I was more than a little frustrated at the moment...because I had failed. Not because I had made a mistake or anything like that, no, I had failed because, by the time I'd arrived, Eden had already beaten me to the chase.

My target was a young girl-...I should probably rephrase that, it sounds a bit creepy...-who had come across one of the Meta-Orbs. The whole ordeal had been recorded and posted online by several people who'd witnessed it.

However, the footage took several hours to go viral and start trending, so our intel division didn't come across those videos till nearly a full day later. Not to mention that the footage of the boy who came across the Physical Skill Meta-Orb and the pictures of the house that was completely destroyed by a Lightning Skill attack had blown up online and overshadowed all other news for several hours.

So the footage uploaded from New Zealand wasn't viewed as much until much later. What seemed to have happened was that the Meta-Orb fell into a supermarket, crashed down onto a pile of watermelons, and as everyone rushed in to get at look at what caused the crash, the girl in question ended up being inadvertently pushed forward by the curious on-lookers.

And then, she slipped on the splattered bits of watermelon, fell forward and her hand landed on the orb, which began glowing, resulting in a lot of panicked and alarmed cries, many people running away in fear. The glowing then stopped, and the girl had a bewildered look on her face.

An older woman, probably the girl's mother, then helped the girl up, held her hand and stormed out of the supermarket, angrily gesturing at the people around her to stop filming and staring.

Our intel division had gone through those viral videos and found the identity of the woman and her address...the girl who touched the Meta-Orb looked like she was about 13 or 14, so they couldn't find anything on her, but all we needed was the address.

My plan had been to approach the house directly and explain the situation to the mother, before taking them both back to Harmony. The higher ups had approved of that, since the alternative was to kill the mother and kidnap the girl, but while the kidnapping on its own would have been fine, killing a regular human without justifiable cause goes against Harmony's principles.

I'd arrived at and the house and knocked on the door a little while ago, but there was no answer. What's more, I couldn't feel any Aura. I realized that something was wrong and quickly snuck into the house through a window...but I was too late, the woman was dead, and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

The woman had a hole through her head, but it clearly wasn't caused by a bullet or anything like that, it was too clean...which means it had been a Meta-Human that killed her, using a concentrated wind projectile or something.

There were some wet spots scattered about in the house, where some furniture had been knocked over and soaked...I see, the girl must have come across the Aqua Skill Meta-Orb. I then decided to leave, since there was no use in sticking around there any longer.

And now, I was back at one of the Harmony bases, a hidden facility in Australia, reporting the results of my failure. As it turned out, it seems that Tara had also failed to retrieve her target. Meanwhile, Neo was still searching for the target he'd been assigned to.

And it looks like these artificial Meta-Humans are being called Outliers...so far, Harmony and Eden have captured two of them each, quite concerning. If Neo succeeds, then the balance will shift in our favor, but with still four more of them out there, the tables could turn yet again.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists in frustration...how is that Neo, someone who can't even sense Auras across long distances, has managed to capture two of them, while Tara and I, fellow Category 0s that have the ability to sense Auras over long distances, both failed capture one of them?

If Neo succeeds in capturing a third one, it will make our failures look all the more incompetent and questionable. Perhaps I ought to have shown more urgency the moment I was assigned the mission, instead of wasting time feeling conflicted over this situation.

No, there's no sense in considering such hypotheticals, it won't change anything. I let out a sigh as I sat down and stared up at the ceiling, having finished making my report. That's right, there's no point in lamenting my failure, I need to put it behind me...and next time, I won't fail...

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Point-of-View: Zoraiz Rafayet

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"So, uh, how's it going?" I inquired awkwardly, in an attempt to make small talk and break the awkward silence that had set in.

Neo had just left to go get the second person he'd kidnapped, and Mike had gone to contact some higher ups or something, leaving me alone with the new guy, uh...what's his name? Did he mention it? I don't remember...

"Let's see, I've been kidnapped using superpowers and brought to a strange place...how do you think?" He responded with a sigh.

Fair enough, I suppose...also, I still can't remember whether or not he introduced himself. Wait, I'm pretty sure that I didn't introduce myself, and I probably would have if he did, so that means that he didn't...I think. My social skills are pretty weak, but if I don't make an effort to change that, then it simply won't change...

"By the way, uh, I'm Zoraiz Rafayet...and despite the circumstances, uh...nice to meet you," I replied, my tone kinda robotic.

This isn't working, I'm not used to talking to people at all, let alone starting a casual conversation myself. Like I said, I just don't have the social skills for this, so why am I even trying? Maybe it's a 'we're both in the same boat' kinda thing.

"Sure, I guess...I'm Inoka Fonseka," He introduced himself after a brief silence.

Okay, I was right, he didn't introduce himself before. And...I have no idea what to say next. He certainly seems to have no interest in continuing this conversation, and trying to start a conversation with someone who doesn't want to talk is way beyond my capability.

This is so painfully awkward. It's felt like ages since Neo left, but it's only been a couple of minutes...where the hell is h-....oh, speak of the devil...

"Hey, I'm back. Wow, talk about an awkward silence...," Remarked Neo as he walked through the portal, and a second later, someone else emerged...

Huh? She looks familiar, where have I seen her bef-...ohh, that's right...!

"You're the girl that almost got gangbanged!" I blurted out, before I could stop myself...

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