Hiro turned away, his eye twitching.

"Can you two be serious for a MINUTE?!"

Century and Ezra snickered as they pointed at a rock that looked like it had a face. Hiro was unamused and grumbled, stomping off. As they continued their trek through the jungle, Hiro was constantly interrupted by Century and Ezra's idiotic antics.

"Look at that tree!"

Ezra ran up to a tree that looked like it had a butt.

"Eh, could be better."

Century looked to Hiro.

"What do you think?"

Hiro glared down at Century.

"Shut up."

They continued walking, Century and Ezra growing more annoying with each step.

"Hey, Hiro check out this hole!"

Century waved Hiro over.

Hiro begrudgingly waltzed over, as he got closer to the hole he noticed a weird pattern on the floor. He inspected the pattern closer when a hole suddenly appeared by his feet. The pattern was a piece of cloth placed over a hole that was going to trap him.

Ezra poked his head out from behind a tree, rope in hand.

"Did we get him?"

Hiro looked horrified.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Century smacked Ezra over the head.

"You pulled it WAY too early."

Hiro stomped his foot down.

"You two were trying to kill me?!"

Hiro looked down with a distraught look.

"Unbelievable."

As Hiro began to walk away he suddenly fell down a second hole.

Century howls with laughter.

"THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!?"

Hiro crawled out of the hole.

"As soon as I get the Haab' I'm killing both of these idiots."

After many jokes, Century and Ezra calmed down and walked alongside Hiro. Century glanced occasionally at Hiro.

"There a problem?"

Hiro looked over to Century.

Century looked the other way.

"Nope. Just watching our surroundings."

Hiro nodded. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke.

"So, how did you two meet?"

Century spun her head to look at Hiro.

"W-What? What do you mean...?"

Century's cheeks began to turn pink.

Hiro looked confused.

"It's a simple question. How did Ezra and you meet."

"We didn't meet."

Ezra ran ahead and walked backwards to face Hiro and Century.

"Century found me, more or less."

Century put her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah, this creep was hiding in the bushes near where I woke up."

"Now hold on! That makes it seem like I was being weird, which I wasn't!"

Ezra crossed his arms.

"I was simply... rehearsing."

Century turned to Hiro.

"I found him writing a list of jokes he would tell me when I woke up. And oh boy did he need some pointers."

Ezra waved his hands around.

"Now hold on a second! I had a couple of good ones."

Century scoffed.

"You mean the one about the dam? Come on, that was lame."

Hiro kept walking, closing his eyes to relax a little.

"Hit me."

Century and Ezra both turned in shock.

"Wait you actually wanna hear them?"

Ezra jumped around all giddy.

"Seriously? You'll only regret it..."

Century braced herself.

"Just tell 'em already, before I change my mind."

Hiro crossed his arms.

Ezra cleared his throat.

"Of course!"

"Ahem, What did the fish say when he swam into a wall?"

Hiro shrugged.

"Dunno, what?"

Ezra went to speak but laughed at his own joke.

"Dam!"

Hiro brushed his shoulder.

"Hm. Two out of ten."

Ezra looked worried.

"Hold on, you're rating them?!"

Ezra pulled out the paper with all his jokes written down.

"Okay well... let me try another!"

"Alright, I sold my vacuum the other day. It was just collecting dust."

Hiro nodded.

"Better. I'd give it a... four out of ten."

Ezra panicked and checked his notes.

"Tough crowd. I really gotta go all out."

"Hm. Okay got it. A blind man walked into a bar and said 'Ow!'"

Hiro's lip twitched.

"I'll give you that. Seven out of ten."

Ezra flipped through his notes aggressively.

"One last one! This one will get you."

"They say there are three types of people in this world. Those who can count and those who can't."

Hiro looks down not making any reaction.

Century shakes her head.

"That was the best you brought? See I told you-"

Hiro looks up, a small chuckle coming from him.

"I get it!"

Century looks surprised and nervously laughs alongside him.

"Eight out of ten. Probably the most you'll get out of me."

Ezra pumps his fist.

"I'll take it! See Century, these jokes are pretty funny."

Century rubs the back of her neck.

"Well... it wasn't too bad I guess."

Ezra shook his head.

"Uh-uh. No switching sides now."

Century sighed and looked around, muttering something under her breath.

"Onto more important matters. When will we reach the Haab'?"

Hiro asked.

Ezra pondered for a second.

"Not sure..."

Ezra continued to walk backwards, unaware of his surroundings.

"The island isn't that big so probably in..."

Before anyone could notice, Ezra slipped as he stepped off a cliff. Hiro lunged forward in hopes of catching him. Century ran to help Hiro.

Hiro dove onto the ground and reached his hand out.

"Ezra!"

Ezra clung to Hiro's hand, his entire body dangling off the edge of the cliff.

"I-I got it!"

Century looked over the edge and reached her hand out.

"Grab on!"

Ezra reached out his hand to grab ahold of Century but suddenly both Hiro and Century's faces went blank. They showed no expression and their bodies slowly went limp. Ezra started to lose his grip.

"Oh no... no no no..."

Ezra tried to climb up.

"You have to be kidding me! They're going into a memory now!?"

Hiro slowly let go of Ezra.

"Damnit not now! Come on! Wake up!"

Ezra slipped and fell down the cliff, screaming all the way down...

Hiro pulled Kaleido up onto the platform.

"Up you get."

Kaleido smiled.

"Thanks! This place really is big huh."

Hiro looked up to see a glowing metropolis. Neon advertisements, enormous skyscrapers and an eternal night thanks to the ceiling covering the whole city. Distant sounds of gunfire echoed across the city, honking of cars and the booming voices of ads clouded Hiro's mind. The place smelled of sulphur and grime, the air thick and hot.

Hiro gazed at the cityscape looming around him when a hand grasped his shoulder. He spun around to see Annabelle in her signature long black trench coat. Hiro's eyes widened upon the realization.

Annabelle checked Hiro's eyes.

"Hiro? Is everything okay?"

Hiro slowly nodded.

"Dandy."

Annabelle moved away and began to walk toward a large warehouse.

"Good, let's keep moving then."

Casper looked to Hiro.

"If you're nervous don't worry. This is just a recon mission. Nothing too serious yet."

Kaleido skipped behind Annabelle.

"Come on Hiro! Don't be a scaredy-cat!"

Hiro sighed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

As Hiro began to walk with them he saw Century walking beside him.

"Now, what do we have here?"

Hiro turned to her.

"What are you talking about?"

Century looked at him, sceptical.

"What am I talking about? Uh, hello! Look around you. Doesn't this seem a bit strange to you?"

Hiro looked perplexed.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Strange? I mean... I've never been to the undercity before so it is a little strange."

Century groaned.

"Not that idiot! The fact we're here! I don't think we're supposed to be back here."

Hiro stared at Century, utterly taken aback by it all.

"Back where?"

Annabelle looked back.

"Are you two gonna speed this up? We have a job y'know."

Hiro turned to Annabelle.

"Yeah, coming."

Hiro glared at Century.

"I don't know who you are or what you're talking about but we have a job. Stop messing around."

Century looked concerned as Hiro walked off.

"Fine. Be like that dumbass."

Century watched Hiro walk off.

"Does... he seriously not remember...?"

Century bit her lip.

"Fuck..."

As the group ventured deeper into the warehouse, the array of light from the city began to dim. Faint illuminations came from the warehouse lights hanging above. The air grew warmer when they found a pile of scrap sitting in a puddle of mercury.

Annabelle approached the edge of the puddle, looking at her reflection it in.

"Is this it?"

Casper walked through the puddle.

"This is what the tip said."

Annabelle looked up worried.

"Careful! You don't know how dangerous this stuff could be."

Casper scooped up a handful of mercury.

"Just standard mercury. You'll be fine."

Century approached the mercury.

"What does it do?"

Casper sifted through the pile of scrap.

"Not much. Dental fillings are the main use I can think of. Other than that it's just a liquid with a really low melting point. You'll mostly find it in liquid form, given that the environment is at least room temperature."

Kaleido skipped through the puddle, jumping around in it.

"It just stays in weird blobs!"

Casper got covered in mercury from all of the splashing.

"Uh. Kaleido... settle down a little. I need to concentrate."

Kaleido pouted.

"Fine."

She then ran over to Hiro who was watching from afar.

"Heyyy!"

Hiro looked down at her.

"Hello. You need something?"

Kaleido shook her head.

"Nope. Casper just doesn't want me messing around."

Kaleido jumped up onto a couple of boxes and sat down, kicking her feet off the side.

"What's your power?"

Hiro kicked a chunk of metal.

"Hm? Teleporting."

Kaleido smiled.

"Show me!"

Hiro unclipped his biker helmet from his belt.

"I'm a Likeable user. Got a piece of my hair infused with this helmet."

Hiro tossed the helmet across the aisle. In the blink of an eye he teleported to where the helmet was thrown, however, now the helmet was on his head.

Kaleido clapped.

"That's cool!"

Hiro took the helmet off.

"If I need I can also teleport the helmet back to my hand as well."

Hiro tossed the helmet far into the distance. He heard it hit the metal walls of the warehouse before he put his hand out. The helmet then teleported into his hand.

"What about you?"

Kaleido hopped down and pranced toward Hiro. She faced the boxes she was sitting atop and readied herself.

"Got my powers in my eyelashes. Watch this."

Kaleido pulled her eyelids open wide, her stary eyes glistening beneath the faint light. The boxes began to glow and slowly float up.

"Once I have something in my grasp I got full control over it!"

Kaleido's eyes darted left. The boxes were tossed in the direction she was looking.

"Whichever way I move my eyes is the direction in which things go in!"

Hiro leaned back and nodded.

"Impressive. Don't know lots of people that have their powers come from their eyelashes."

Kaleido looked up surprised.

"Really? I know like... two people who do!"

"I knew a guy who had his powers come from the hairs on his knuckles."

Kaleido's mouth opened wide.

"Knuckles?! What did he do?"

"He had INSANE punches. Could break steal into shards."

"Did you ever fight him? Please tell me you did."

Hiro put his hand on the back of his neck.

"Nah. Never knew him too well so I never fought him. I would have been destroyed though."

"Then when we meet him we gotta fight him together!"

Kaleido held up one of her arms, flexing her scrawny biceps.

"Me and you? We could make a great team."

Hiro's eyebrow raised.

"How so?"

"You throw that helmet thingy of yours and I can redirect it! Need to get behind him? Chuck it up and I'll redirect it to wherever you need! We'd be unstoppable!"

Hiro nodded.

"Sounds like a plan. Never really had a team before... let alone a team-up attack."

"Whaaat?! What about your friends? Never tried to come up with cool moves with them?"

Hiro looked down and exhaled.

"No... not a lot."

Kaleido put her hands on her hips.

"Were you one of those loners who never talked to anyone?"

Hiro looked taken aback by how blunt Kaleido was being.

"Well... I um."

"You WERE! I can see it on your face!"

Kaleido pointed at Hiro.

"RIGHT THERE!"

Hiro gently smacked her hand away.

"What!? You're lying."

"Nuh-uh!"

Kaleido began to poke at Hiro's face.

"Right there! There! There!"

Hiro tried to smack her hand away.

"Stop! What are you doing?!"

Century watched them from a distance, her mind slowly wandering.

"Hey."

Annabelle put her hand on Century's shoulder.

"We got what we came for. Let's go."

Century nodded.

"Uh yeah. Coming."

Century and the others began to walk out of the warehouse.

"Traces of lead were the only identifiable feature. Seems the mercury came from our target."

Casper jotted things down in a book.

"I'm thinking... magnet abilities? No bodies which is the most concerning thing."

Annabelle walked alongside Casper.

"There were reports of missing workers. Perhaps we are dealing with a kidnapping instead of murder."

"No other signs of struggle. Lead is most likely from bullets. Explains why our informant found empty guns scattered around."

Casper rubbed his chin.

"All we have is a name. Cailenger. No idea what they look like or what their abilities are."

"We do know Ignition wants them. Dunno if it's for the knowledge they hold or how capable they are."

Annabelle pulled out a phone.

"I'll try and contact our informant again. When we get back fill Julie in on what we found."

Century walked behind them before stopping.

"He turns people to scrap."

Casper and Annabelle turned around. Hiro and Kaleido soon stopped to look as well.

"Huh?"

Casper looked confused.

Annabelle looked at the others.

"What did you say?"

Century shakes her head.

"Do none of you really remember?"

Century looked up.

"Cailenger. He's long dead. You killed him, Annabelle."

Annabelle looked concerned.

"Century. What the hell are you saying."

Annabelle readied herself.

Casper nervously chuckled.

"That's an... odd joke Century. C'mon. Let's just go back."

Kaleido looked anxious.

"Hiro..."

Century looked at their hesitant and threatened gazes.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Fine. Need me to spit it out. Cailenger. Lyn Jin District. He's hiding on the docks in a facility like this. He forces his hair down people's throats and they turn into... I dunno... trinkets! Or... that's what he called them."

Annabelle looked at Casper.

"I knew this was a stupid idea."

Casper backed away.

"I didn't think she was actually a traitor!"

Century's eyes went wide.

"What? A traitor?"

Annabelle slowly began to shift into the shadows.

"Century. Tell us right now. Are you on our side or not?"

Century stared blankly at Annabelle.

"No. I'm on no one's side. Just get me the hell out of here!"

Hiro collapsed to the floor clutching his head.

"SHIT!"

Hiro began to roll around the floor, his head throbbing.

"C-Century..."

He coughed. Blood covering the ground.

"Where... are we...?"

The space around them began to shake. Kaleido, Annabelle and Casper were all frozen and soon the memory faded.

Hiro fell back. He looked around to see the jungle once more.

"What the hell..."

Hiro looked around and saw Century slowly getting up.

Century rubbed her head.

"How did..."

A sudden sharp pain then hit her. She groaned in pain.

"Ah fuck!"

Ezra ran over to Century and gently laid her down.

"Are you okay?"

Century laid back.

"NO! Get off me!"

Century pushed Ezra away.

"What was that? How did I... go back?"

Ezra stood up and sighed.

"Damnit. I didn't think you two would enter a memory at that moment."

Ezra paced around.

"Okay. We need to keep moving. Now."

Hiro sat up.

"You mind explaining a little? Feel like I can barely stay conscious here."

Century stood.

"My head's killin' me too."

Ezra faced both of them.

"Don't freak out when I tell you this."

Hiro rolled his eyes.

"Always the best opener..."

Ezra cleared his throat.

"You're gonna lose your mind."

Hiro and Century stared at him blankly.

"That's good! The bad part is out of the way and you two didn't freak out."

Century shook her head.

"'Cause what am I suppose to take away from that? You saying we're going nuts?"

Ezra waved his hands around.

"No no. When you entered the memory you did so without me. This meant I couldn't fix any issues that may have arisen."

Ezra knelt.

"Let me explain. When you enter a memory, I also enter it. You can't see me but I am watching. This is purely to prevent you from becoming conscious and accidentally altering the memory. The problem with you two is that you are the first duo to enter the same memory. Hiro has no problem losing consciousness and replaying the memory since it's coming from HIS mind but Century on the other hand..."

Ezra looked down.

"Century needs to manually lose consciousness aka I need to get rid of Century's memory while you're in there. It's a painless and easy process but because I fell off the cliff I couldn't enter the memory and Century never lost consciousness."

Century's eyes widened.

"So... what? We're just rewatching our past? Unable to change it?"

Ezra looked to Century.

"This isn't a time machine. You aren't actually going back into the past you're just reliving the memory. Because you're conscious it means you know it's a memory. You know what will happen and that things aren't real."

Hiro stands up.

"How is that bad?"

Ezra takes a deep breath.

"That's why I said you two are losing your minds. Literally. That little mess-up Century made in that memory has permanently damaged BOTH of your minds. Your memory, your thoughts, your personality. All of that is slowly fading. If we don't try and fix it you'll... be a wandering corpse."

Hiro turned to Century.

"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?"

Century snarled.

"How is this my fault?! Ezra messed up by walking off a cliff!"

Hiro drove his finger into Century's shoulder.

"Couldn't have just played along. Always gotta screw shit up."

"You... You actually blame me for this!?"

"Course I do! Don't forget you're the reason for ANY of this. You and you're curse..."

Century's pupils dilated.

"What did you say...?"

"What? Didn't think I knew about that? Little Miss Curse-y is what HQ called you. What was it... fifteen or fourteen agents killed in squads you've been it? Doesn't take a genius to recognise you're nothing but bad luck!"

Century's hand trembled.

"Y-You... take that back."

Ezra tried to get in between them.

"Hiro! Calm down a-"

Hiro shoved Ezra to the ground, his wooden mask falling off.

"Stay out of this, kid."

Hiro turned back to Century.

"The only reason Annabelle let you on the squad was because Casper felt bad for you. We had orders from Julie to keep an eye on you, most people thought you were a traitor, kept you at arm's length in hopes they wouldn't be the next on the chopping block."

Hiro clenched his fist.

"So, tell me. Are you a traitor? Or just a pile of pathetic shit."

Century stared up at him, her jaw quivering.

"T-Take... that back..."

Hiro grabbed Century by her collar, lifting her to his eye level.

"ANSWER!"

Century thrashed around, tears welling in her eyes.

"Let me go! Get away!"

Ezra put his hand on Hiro's arm, his mask back on.

"If we don't get through the rest of the memories fast then both of you are going to have your minds turned to mush."

Ezra looked to Century.

"Push your emotions aside or else you'll never feel them again."

Hiro tossed Century to the ground.

"Don't mess up again or I'll make sure my last memory is killing you."

Century wiped her eyes and got up.

"Whatever..."

Hiro walked off.

Ezra turned to Century.

"Are you okay?"

Century pushed past him.

"Who cares. I want this over with."

Ezra sighed before running ahead to guide them. As they walked Century glanced up to Hiro, her heart swelling as she stared at him. It's going to be a long journey with not much time left...