“Damn it all! That Usagi is an annoying girl!” Mr. Music shouts from the enclosed room. An old warehouse abandoned years ago. Water leaks from the pipes up high, and puddles formed beneath where Mr. Pond stands, his defeat reeking from his gullet.

“There was nothing I could do! She intended to kill me, and she was dodging all my attacks! It was a life-and-death situation, and I chose life!” he says.

“As annoying as the little bunny is, I can’t believe you ran away from her. It’s a shameful sight to see a man of your age flee from a high school girl.” He smashes his foot into a nearby puddle, water spraying into Mr. Pond’s face.

“It doesn’t matter! All of us are threats regardless of place in life, and I wasn’t going to di—” Before he can finish his sentence, a warm grasp is around his throat. It doesn’t choke him; in fact, it feels soothing at first, but his body is struck with instant fear, knowing who this hand belongs.

“That was a big no, no losing, you understand? Well, I know the answer to that. You don’t because you’re here with us again, all washed up.” A woman behind him emerges. Her smile is a fenced razor wire, slicing through any comfort the room could hold.

“Hey, there's no need to be so overbearing of him. He is a low-rank thug, after all.” Mr. Music flaunts his own status, being higher up, air escaping his body for a hardy laugh.

Out of the shadow comes the woman, her age twenty-seven years, her eyes a crisp brown. She swipes her black berry-like bangs, taking a few steps ahead, still holding to Mr. Pond’s neck.

“You sure were a disappointment in every regard, a man allowing himself to succumb. I bet Mr. Nuke Happy would be disappointed in you, dear, so very hurt by your actions.” Mr. Pond is a block of ice, not daring to move an inch in her presence. Mr. Nuke Happy has a sophisticated way of going about things like that, but nonetheless, he knows he stands in the presence of someone who is just as sinister.

“I’m sorry, ma’am… I j—” A finger is lapsed around his charm. It brings him back to earlier times when Usagi threatened him in the same manner.

“No need to be so formal. You may call me by my name.” Their eyes meet. The brown in her eyes is like deep elk wool and burning bright. “This must bring back recent memories, no? This is what that girl did to you, isn’t it?”

“Yes! I’m sorry that she did. I tried to fight her, but she was too strong!” he whimpers out.

“If you ask me, this isn’t the type of guy you should roll with. Hell, I’m new, and I have more power than he has in… what? Twenty-plus years with you all?”

“Yes, just about. And I can’t help but agree. I expect more from you. We all do. Perhaps I need to remind you what happens to those who can’t pull their own weight.” Her finger is still looped, and she activates one of her Remnant abilities; his bones cease to activate as normal. They feel stiff and brittle, as if an elderly man had fallen down. Beneath her chin is the charm of a skeleton.

“Is something wrong, dear? Are you suffering from stiff bone syndrome? My, what to do, what to do?” she ponders. A barbed agony and a scream of pure pain. “Please stop!” A protruding bone appears in his leg. It’s as if his femur is begging itself out. She glances away, as if she doesn’t want to see what she is doing.

“Punishment often times must be given, even at the stakes of others. I hold no pleasure in this, but you needed to do better, dear.” Her power stops before reaching his skin. It still splinters and nails at him from inside his body, causing unbearable pain. Staring down, he meets with the skull clip on her hair. The woman, possessing a smile to chill anyone to their core, gazes up at him. The woman named Miss Bones.

“Seeing those below me, wasting their bones, it is saddening. It spawns a bad look for all of us, and while I hate vanity, you understand it’s importance to Mr. Nuke Happy.” There’s a pause as he fully expects his bones to explode from his body. But it doesn’t happen. Only a greeting of a radiant, bony smile. “That’s why I won’t hurt you anymore. Let’s get those brittle bones back in place.” Manipulating her main ability, she pushes them back in place perfectly. There’s only a soreness left in his joints.

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“Damn, if I was you, I wouldn’t have stopped,” Mr. Music claims.

Miss Bones, standing at five foot seven, trots over to him, a bounce in her step as she stares at the taller six-foot-one man. “You’re the new Remnant? A sixteenth note is your charm? The note to signify a speeding of a piece, does your Remnant have to do with speed?” She smiles.

“Yeah, that’s one thing. You can tell a lot about a Remnant and their abilities through their charm, can’t you?”

“Oh yes, yes, Remnants aren’t bound by their charms in every way. However, it doesn’t say all to them. Creativity leads to invention, even in our abilities.” From her pocket, she takes out a vial with a white chalk substance inside.

“For example. I call this my bone bullet. Show me your ability now.” A slew of her hand, she projects the vial into a nearby metal container. Like a shotgun blast, it penetrates through with ease, humming metal shards at them both. Mr. Music, witnessing one coming close to him, activates one ability. A riff of music plays from beyond, increasing his speed and narrowing out of the way in time.

“That vial was filled with bone marrow. A neat little trick I cultivated myself. Even tricks can be helpful to us Remnants, don’t you think, Mr. Music?” She tilts her head back, observing Mr. Pond, who changes into his watery form, a stain of red washing down one side of his watery body.

“Unfortunately, you weren’t fast enough. Seems Mr. Music doesn’t like you, after all. He could have easily used his Remnant to increase your speed as well.” She smirks.

“What! How the hell do you know that!?” Mr. Music is shocked. He never told anyone about his full capacity and current abilities.

“Did you think we were low-life thugs, Oye?” His eyes roll completely open. His name? How the hell does this woman know so much about me?

“Credit where credit is due, though. You are good at hiding that last name of yours. None of us know exactly who you are, but we know enough to make sure you stay in line.” Mr. Pond behind them aches in pain, his body becoming weaker and regressing back to his human form. A massive wound on his upper right abdomen the size of a baseball.

“Please… help me…”

She walks over to him, inspecting his wound. “Your wound is fatal. You’ll bleed from your arteries until nothing is left. I do hate to see you die.” Her hand slides underneath his chin once more. She plots. “I know you want to live, don’t you? Even now, I can feel your connection to me fading, darker, dimmer.”

“I don’t want to…” He chokes up blood. “Please save me. I’ll do anything…” Her smiling proceeds as she takes out another vial. “You know I can’t kill you myself. But what happened was more negligence on your part. I announced what I was going to do, and yet you were too slow to react to hunks of metal scarring the air lunging into your body. It seems like a workplace accident, no?”

“I’ll kill the girl...! I’m sorry for failing, I’ll kill them all this time...! Even if I have to tear off this damned choker… Just let me have that chance…”

“You took the words right out of my mouth. For that, I’ll make sure you live to see that through.” Popping the vial open, she controls the marrow, flying it through the air. It planets itself inside his body, mending the damage with a surgeon's precision. He is left with bone-like padding where his flesh used to be. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a healer. It will hurt still, but you’ll survive.”

“What the hell…?” Mr. Music says, astonished. This woman is no joke. Her Remnant isn’t the only thing she has. She has the foresight and knowledge to hold herself in a fight. In fact, she has the reasoning to be the dominant one. The way she is able to predict exactly where those shards go, they miss her body, not even a single scratch. Not only that. She made me reveal my Remnant power and impaled that bastard to make sure he would do her biding before healing him. Was that all part of her plan?

“Right… I’ll make sure to make up for it when I’m slaughtering those worthless lambs! Especially that stupid bunny girl!”

“Lambs to the slaughter.” Miss Bones isn’t one to encourage brutality. It isn’t her preferred style, but her manipulative skills, tactics, and charisma to understand others she beckons against are always foremost. “Do as you must.” She smiles up.

None of this makes sense to Oye. Her attitude is almost like a warming heater and a freezing air conditioner. Her personality jumps from one place to the other but still returns to the middle to achieve her ultimate goal. This woman is intelligent. This woman is crazy. This woman is dangerous.

“Oye.” Her eyes go back to him. “I’m fascinated by you. Your Remnant can amplify the power of you, but it works better on others, does it not?” he says nothing, knowing she’s completely right. “That’s a horrible limitation, one that you can break through by honing yourself. So you better get to work on that. I’m sure you hope to be better like me, yes?”

A steel beam may as well have fallen on his ego. He can feel the flame inside him wanting to burn through his skin, but he isn’t a fool.

“As for your Mr. Pond. I hope you will not disappoint once again. To ensure that you don’t, I will give you a gift.” She placed her hand on his chest. His body perks, and inside, his bones repair. It is years melting off his bones, the once brittle, soon-to-be elderly bones return back to their early twenties, his prime brought back.

“I- I feel younger! What did you do!?” he says, thrilled, smirking.

“You will fight now as if in your prime. You have no reason to lose now, do you?” she says softly.

“Trust me. I won’t lose to her again.” The image of her is seared into his brain, marking it forevermore. The one with bunny-like movements and a heart of a lion. He can defeat her because the heart of a lion doesn’t make up for the prey bunny. When it comes down to it, she is just a bunny.