Location: Team Four’s Starting Location

Time: 2:33 PM, February 14th 2108

Hana sidestepped slightly as a spectral fist, almost twice the size of her small frame, came crashing down beside her.

Before I could have reacted, another fist came flying straight for her, but she leapt above it, using a free hand to push off the fist itself to do an aerial cartwheel.

She landed gracefully in the path of a third hand. Before it could wrap its fingers around her, Hana jumped again. This time staying low to the ground and straightening her body out like a missile she managed to slip between the gaps of the fingers without making any contact. She came out of the dive with a short roll and popped back up to her feet.

[Jakey, I know you didn’t want me to hold back, but I can’t afford to use too much power here. I’ve got someone else that I really need to kill after this, so I’ll be conserving most of my strength. Although against an opponent like you, I can’t imagine that it will make much of a difference either way.]

[Keep talking! See if I care.]

Two massive, open palms clapped together in an attempt to smash Hana. Rather than dodge, she slipped down into her shadow.

She then leaped, knife first, out of Jacob’s shadow. He created one spectral hand to push himself away from her and another to punch her down. The second fist made contact, but as it did Hana’s body exploded into a flurry of black lightning.

Her real body was already standing behind Jacob. She unceremoniously touched his back, releasing a surge of electric shadows.

Jacob collapsed almost instantly.

[Now, if I was my father I would have given you a lesson about how real fights usually end with just one attack. In a real life or death situation, there’s no need for any kind of back and forth. Just strike with something you know will work from the start. And if you don’t have anything like that, then just put everything behind your strongest attack.]

Hana gave his body a swift kick while wiping the blood that was running from her nose.

[Guess it’s pointless to say all that to you now.]

[Hey, uh, is he, you know?]

Emelia crept closer to Jacob’s body.

[Unlike you, I know most things, so I’m sure I do know, but you’ll have to be more specific. Here I was thinking you knew enough words to hold a basic conversation. Sorry, I shouldn’t have expected that much from you.]

[Don’t look so genuine when giving an apology like that. I just wanted to know if you killed him.]

[Does it matter?]

[I won’t go so far as to say I hope you spared him, but if I had to pick, I’d have preferred it if no one had to die for my sake; even if I was only the excuse.]

[Then I’ve got good news: I didn’t kill him. As an adult, I can be forgiving.]

[No, you’re definitely younger. Jacob is the same age as me.]

[Besides, he wasn’t a target for elimination. And it’s not like he actually wanted to hurt you. He was just foolishly using Mistress Oakley’s request to get a chance to fight me. The idiot.]

The both of them looked toward me.

[So I guess I’m correct in thinking that your boss over there wants me dead now too?]

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

[She doesn’t really, but, well, it’s complicated. More complicated than someone like you could understand. I’ve already sent a message to my father. He’ll know what to do with you.]

[Yeah, sure, why not. Send me with the killing machine. I’ve already given up on having any real agency. Any chance of that was lost when you first found me in the slums.]

[You’re welcome.]

[No, I’m not.]

Having finished their conversation, Hana started to sign while walking towards me.

“You’re being awfully quiet. Although I suppose that’s nothing new.”

Was she making fun of me?

Well, in a manner of speaking she wasn’t wrong. I wouldn’t have used the word ‘quiet’, but it was impossible to deny that I was trying to keep my presence as small as possible.

There was a reason for that. I never expected him to actually succeed, but Jacob hadn’t distracted Hana for nearly long enough. I still needed more time for the other two to show up. That being the case, I was happy to let Hana have a conversation with Emelia.

“No, I get it. I imagine you’re thinking that if you let me waste enough time the twins will show up.”

My face must have showcased my surprise with Hana practically reading my thoughts because she gave me a knowing smirk.

“No, it’s nothing that impressive. It’s been my only job to watch over you, so of course I’d be able to predict how you’d react. Given your current mindset, contacting Acht and Nuen was the obvious choice.”

So what if she predicted what I had done? That didn’t change anything. Acht and Nuen would show up at any moment. She had made short work of Jacob, but there was no way Hana could fight two other Numbers at once.

“And now you’re thinking that me knowing your plan doesn’t affect anything, and in a way, you’re right, but for the completely wrong reason. The twins won’t be here to help you. Perhaps you’ve gotten too used to me. Position, status, relationship, law; none of that matters to a Number. All we have is the duty to serve the ones we’re assigned to.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“They won’t help you. They’ll continue on with whatever purpose they were given. And you know as well as I do, they were instructed to snuff out Rin’s flame if she managed to kill Ren. No matter what you say or what you offer, it will all fall on deaf ears.”

So then, what? Was I just supposed to let Hana do whatever she wanted? Just let her continue to make threats against Her Highness?

No. Never. I won’t allow such a thing. Even if there’s nothing I can do about it, I won’t allow it.

I won’t panic either. I’d be no use to her highness like that.

But continuing to act like I’ve got a handle on the situation would be fruitless. If I actually want to be of use to Her Highness I need to be able to admit my failings.

If anything, this incident showcased that I’m a one trick pony, or maybe it would be more apt to say that I’ve only got a one trick pony, and that pony isn’t listening.

The most useful thing I could do is to swallow my pride and just report the situation to Her Highness. I needed to let her know that Hana wasn’t completely under my control and that she was at risk.

“Hana, I have a job for you.” She looked at me dubiously as I gave the order. “Search for any of the three that were working for Prince Eren. If they’re dead, make certain. If they’re alive, bring them back to Velstand for interrogation. I don’t care how you do it. And you can take Emelia with you if you want, but I doubt it would be necessary. I couldn’t kill her myself.”

It was a troublesome errand I was sending her on. Based on what Allison told us earlier, I knew for a fact that at least Grant was alive. Bringing him all the way back to Velstand would take time. She would certainly contact the Ministry of Defense to pick him up, but preperations would take some time. Transporting an aggressive augmented is a time consuming task.

Troublesome, and pointless.

Her Highness had access to a woman capable of reading minds. She already knew everything that Grant could possibly reveal during an interrogation.

I just needed to keep Hana busy for long enough for me to get someone to take me back to the city.

And based on how she was acting, she wasn’t in any kind of open rebellion against me. As long as it was something she considered a reasonable order, she shouldn’t have any justification for ignoring it.

The black lightning covering her skin retreated back under her clothes, and she wiped away the last of the blood off her face.

“Concerned. You were one of the targets of today’s incident. Leaving you alone is unnecessarily risky.”

“I’ll contact Oliver and have him pick me and take me back to the city. The real one.”

“Suspicious. If Oliver is coming here wouldn’t it make more sense for the member of the ARA to capture an augmented?”

“Maybe, but we both know he wouldn’t do it. I need you for this task.”

I could practically see the gears turning in Hana’s head. I’m sure what I was trying to do would be obvious to anyone, but she seemed unwilling to refuse without a valid reason.

“Annoyed. Very well. Once you are in the care of Big Olive I will locate the three in question and act accordingly.”

Perfect. As long as I managed to get in touch with Her Highness before Hana could do anything, Her Highness would solve everything.