It was out there, in the mailbox, just as it has been every single time.

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 45th Entry

When Anagen pulled the first of the vials out of the package, it looked pink and silvery. She held it up against the light and looked through the clear liquid in the glass, shaking it around. It sloshed around no more than water and Anagen – satisfied with the look – threw it towards AxEl.

He caught the vial out of the air with a single hand, popping the cork off of with his thumb.

“Bottom’s up,” he said as he downed the entire bottle at once. It had a bitter and medicinal taste to it, so AxEl almost gagged, but he managed to stomach it. A moment later, he felt it in his veins. Like adrenaline, it felt like his blood was rushing a million times faster. He moved his arms and Nook and Anagen’s eyes widened.

But his arms didn’t feel any faster. He moved it around a bit more, and the air felt like it was parting around his fingers. He opened his hands and streaked them through the hotel room they were in, feeling like he was sculpting the air with them.

“Shouldn’t I be feeling faster?” AxEl said to the both of them, as he played around more with it. AxEl kicked the air and the bedsheets flipped up into the air. But it was… slow? AxEl turned to Nook and Anagen, seeing them begin to speak.

“Iitttt’s tthhhe eeffffeccctt,” Anagen said, her voice sounding like it was moving in slow motion. That’s what she meant. It doesn’t just speed up the body, but the mind as well, AxEl thought as he played around with it more. He crouched down onto the carpeted floor and jumped up into the air, soaring up and hitting his head against the stone ceiling. AxEl fell, hitting his back against the bed railing and falling onto the ground.

“O-ouch...” he groaned as Anagen gave him a hand. Her eyes and Nook’s were both glowing grey.

“Sorry. I just can’t help but move,” he apologized. There was no indication on the ceiling that something had struck it, so AxEl let himself relax a bit.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to practice this inside,” Anagen mused. “But I think I know where we can,” she added as she handed the package to AxEl.

They waited as the effect of the Airwaves wore off. Then they clambered out of the room and up the stairs until they reached the roof. AxEl twisted the doorknob and walked out into the starlit night.

From their position, they could see the tops of various other buildings around the same level. Heravina had smaller buildings on average, so they were only a few floors above the ground level. That wasn’t to say there weren’t structures that could rival the skyscrapers of Lupan, but they were further away and smaller in number.

Wind swept by them and AxEl felt it blowing his clothes. A clinking sound alerted him to Anagen behind him. She had taken out another vial and thew it in his direction. AxEl grabbed it again and downed the whole thing at once, sticking his tongue out in disgust at the taste.

“There has to be a better way to take these,” he said, corking the vial shut once more.

“It’s supposed to go directly into the bloodstream for maximum effect, but the best we can do is this for now,” Anagen said. AxEl walked up and took a few more vials. He shoved them into the pockets of his coat, securing them in place before staring out again. He bobbed on his feet for a moment, testing the weight and strength of his legs.

He moved further than he thought he would, like he was bouncing around on a trampoline only when he struck the floor with his feet.

“I’ll do a test run,” he said, glancing towards Nook and Anagen. They both nodded and AxEl started walking towards the ledge. His heart thumped in his chest, him not knowing whether that was due to the product or his own discomfort with heights. No point in putting in half the work when the job needs doing, he thought as he picked up his pace. Passing by the wires and satellite dishes on the roofs, he started to jog and move his arms along with his legs.

The air parted from him as he did. AxEl had never felt such little resistance from the winds, so it was alien to him, yet he continued. This isn’t going to be fast enough, he thought to himself as he came upon the gap between the buildings. So, AxEl committed. He started sprinting, waving his arms and running faster and faster. He didn’t feel faster, but he knew intellectually that the speed he was going at would be.

He ran like that until finally the ledge came up. AxEl placed one foot on it and put all of his force behind it, shooting into the air. He felt a pang of fear in his body, but that was overshadowed by the sheer height and distance he had gotten in the leap. He felt like he was reaching for the stars, but then looked down and found the rooves not far below him.

AxEl landed on the other building and almost covered half of it length wise. He skidded to a halt on the concrete before falling and rolling across it. He heard the crunch of glass in his jacket pocket as his body dragged around on the ground and stopped. Pain shot through AxEl once he did, and he let out a groan. A moment later, he heard something fall on the roof and felt a hand at his side.

“You shouldn’t have taken such a big leap,” Anagen said, touching his sides and rolling him over to the correct one. She pulled open his jacket side and saw the liquid leaking through.

“You’re also going to need to be careful with that,” she said to him. AxEl nodded and dragged himself up from the ground. He dusted himself off and rolled his arms around in his sockets. He felt pain in his shoulders as he did, but ignored it in favour of continuing.

“Underestimated it. Wouldn’t think that would happen,” AxEl said, stretching his back.

“You took off like a bird when you jumped. I thought you were going to fall!” Nook said, annoyed.

“You guys would’ve been there to stop me,” AxEL said. He knew the rustling sound of glass in his pockets wasn’t the best thing, but he hadn’t the time to care.

“HoonUl and those working under him already know how to use Airwaves. If we don’t learn, we’ll be dead when he sends someone after us,” AxEl said, flexing his fingers. He got into a running stance again, but instead of running, he did a milder sprint towards one of the other ledges. Nook and Anagen gave each other a look before following, and the three of them jumped from the roof at almost the same time.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

AxEl flailed his arms in the wind as he landed, but this time he didn’t fall. He did get low to avoid moving too much, but that was a concession he could take for his second time. He grinned beside himself and glanced at Nook and Anagen, who were similarly recovering. Nook had his hands on the ground and they looked a bit red, while his face was scrunched in annoyance. Anagen hadn’t even needed to crouch down, instead standing with perfect poise on the roof.

“Scratched up your hands?” AxEl asked. Nook looked away.

“No, just a bit of a rough landing,” he replied. They continued the training well into the night, growing better and more proficient in the use of the drug. AxEl felt it give out once while he was in the middle of a leap, but thankfully he was in the air and the drug didn’t affect his fall too much.

Anagen – it seemed – had been the one to take to it most well. She almost seemed to float down from her jumps, landing on her feet and taking off without a moment’s recovery in between. Nook and AxEl paled in comparison to the performance, though they made steady progress. No matter how much they did, however, Nook made unsteady landings.

“Try landing on your soles first,” AxEl offered advice, but Nook didn’t seem keen on taking it.

“Focus on yourself. I don’t need the training as much as you two, remember?” he told them, and AxEl felt the guilt rise again. Nook stood up and began to run again, but something looked off. AxEl saw the strings of his shoes flailing out.

“Nook, don’t!” he shouted out, but it distracted him even further. Nook tripped on the parapet and did an awkward jump with one leg. AxEl had begun to run before Nook had stopped and watched as his friend hit the bricks on the other building and slid downwards. Nook grabbed onto the railing of the metal stairwell that was built into the building, and looked downwards.

“W-woah!”

AxEl jumped too, hitting the stairwell below him and placing his hands against the wall when he couldn’t stop. The stairwell shook under his weight, sending out a shaking noise of metal all the way to the bottom. AxEl reached out a hand for Nook, who had only one on the railing.

“Come on up,” he offered and Nook tried grabbing onto it. At the same time, they both heard a click and a creaking as a window above them began to open. The window started swinging outwards slowly. AxEl reached down quicker to drag Nook up, but felt a swish of wind pass him by. Above him, Anagen had leaped onto the other side.

She held the parapet with one hand while she dangled below. With her left foot, she placed it above the window to stop it from turning outwards. AxEl nodded gratefully and pulled Nook up while the person inside the apartment struggled to open the window. Pulling him up by his shirt, Nook and AxEl both sat low and out of sight on the metal platform and saw Anagen pull herself up and over the ledge.

After a few minutes, AxEl and Nook took the stairs to the top of the roof and joined Ana. She was staring down at the alley they had been in and looked pensive. Then the colour from her eyes faded and she touched her eyelids.

“With this, I think…” Anagen began, “I think you could take on a Questor, even, AxEl,” she said. Is the power getting to her? AxEl thought.

“Like Ohlas?” he asked.

“Yes, like him. Most Questors don’t look as threatening as him, so maybe the size is just for intimidation,” she explained.

“And HoonUl?” AxEl asked.

“We don’t know if he’s even a fighter. If he is? Then I’m sure you could take him on…. But is that what you’re planning on doing?” Anagen asked in return. Her eyebrows scrunched as she scanned AxEl’s face for a response.

“No, I’ve got a better idea,” he said, sitting down and touching the stone floor of whatever location they were on. “He isn’t stupid enough to think I’ll work for him, yet he still tried to get me to concede. And going after him won’t do anything. Someone else will take his place if they aren’t trying to already,” he said, rubbing his hands across the cold and smooth surface.

“We have to do this the same way we did the Revolvers. Go after his production, his transport. Take him down through his business so his personal defenses have nothing left,” AxEl explained, and Anagen let go of the expression she had on her face.

“You really have learned…” she said admiringly.

“From you. And you, Nook,” he said, and Nook gave him an awestruck look. He stared at AxEl until the grey faded from his eyes and all that was left to see were Nook’s own. He looked for only a moment longer.

“It’s good you did,” he finally answered, before turning away and rubbing at his nose. And there’s another reason. I don’t want him to have anything left. Someone like HoonUl shouldn’t have a legacy of any kind. I want him dead, and any image of him as well, he thought inwardly. A voice warned him of the nature of his goals, but it sounded more defeated than it had all those years ago when he started.

They stopped shortly after that, going back to their rooms and hiding the vials they had left in the rooms. AxEl had to hand over the jacket to Ana, who told him it would be ‘taken care of.’

****

When a number of people passed by AxEl as he was sitting in an outdoor café, he wasn’t surprised. He had been reading the news and drinking some tea in the morning when the group came up and took seats near him. It helped that he had specifically requested the place, so he felt at ease.

“Morning, boss,” the man on the other end said. Lex still preferred to go bald after all these years, like Nook, but he had paler skin and more wrinkles than the former. He had a slight smirk on his face that AxEl had grown to tolerate, yet not affect him. He put the paper down and took the cup in his hand.

“Has your group settled in?” he asked them, taking a sip from the cup.

“Yeah, we have. We picked a hotel near the Menthal district. Is that close enough?” he asked, expecting.

“It is. It’s one of the areas with the highest concentration of Airwaves users, so you’ll find plenty of dealers. Now that you’re here, can you help the other groups settle in as well?” AxEl asked Lex, who nodded.

Near him sat two men who had been quiet the whole time, sitting with their hands inside their darkly coloured coats and beanies on their heads. They both looked similar to each other, so much so that one could mistake them for brothers based on the build alone.

“My boys and I will help them get in. The weapons are going to be a problem, since we can’t keep them in the rooms,” Lex asked. “We could use another warehouse, like we did last time?” he suggested to AxEl, who put down his cup.

“If you can, yeah. Make sure not to bring too many inside the city. Only as much as you’ll need once things get going,” AxEl replied, leaning forward in his chair. Realizing how he looked, he then waved them off.

“Go. If you need to contact me you know the number for it,” he said, returning to the newspaper in his hand. He hadn’t even read the first sentence on it considering how tense he’d been for the meeting. Anagen had been the one to organize much of these things, so picking up on her duties was something new to AxEl. Especially since he not only had to do that but also hide it from her for the moment.

He walked away from the café soon after and came to another an hour later, where he repeated the process.

“You protect each other. Any of you sees an issue you can’t handle, you run and you don’t look back. Because you’re not just putting yourselves in danger, you’re putting everyone else here too,” he lectured one group before they’d listened and walked away.

“Keep low when you go after the dealers. Don’t let them find out where you’re from. Don’t wear anything identifying, okay? And when you do hear something, you report to me, not Ana,” he lectured a second group who were confused on how the chain worked.

He was glad that Anagen was busy in her own investigations into the running of the Company, or else he wouldn’t have found any excuse to be out. AxEl came back to the hotel room and found Anagen and Nook doting over pictures of people and vehicles.

He closed the door behind him and Ana gave him a small nod of acknowledgement. They were sat on the carpet, using the bed as a makeshift table for their various documents.

“Were you busy today?” she asked him.

“….Yes, I was. Did you find out anything?” AxEl asked her.

“The truck models they use and from which company. Or at least we narrowed down the suspects. That and some possible locations for production plants,” Ana said, collecting all the disparate notes scattered over the bed. Nook handed her his pile and yawned, laying his head down on the bed.

“And you?” she asked, hoping. AxEl thought about telling her, but the day had sapped his strength. His voice was hoarse and he had no time to explain each and every person that he had met. So, he didn’t.

“Later,” he said, before turning to leave the room. It didn’t feel right at the moment – or even after – but he wouldn’t know. He crashed on his own bed minutes after, nursing a headache he hadn’t even noticed.