Reo Hinode (Oberon) – Part 1

Was that Erind in a wetsuit, running barefoot across the lobby? Reo Hinode blinked, his neurons not wanting to process what he had just seen.

That was possible trouble. He didn’t want to see trouble.

He examined the glass of whisky in his hand. It was only his third for the night but probably his last because it was more expensive than his spleen. Everything on this ship was overpriced to kingdom come. Whiskey’s strong but he bet that even an entire bottle chugged in one go couldn’t overcome his super regeneration and knock him out. He just wanted to feel something, which was why he tried whiskey.

Reo finished the rest of his glass’s contents in a gulp, feeling the burn rolling down his throat, as he examined the lobby. Other passengers were looking at where Erind went, muttering amongst themselves. He wasn’t hallucinating when he saw her.

In turn, that meant she was doing something suspicious.

Suspicious. Reo was right that there was something not right with that odd girl. Whether that was a good or bad thing was a question he didn’t want to ponder. A better question was whether he should pretend that he saw her or not.

Reo shuffled to the bar and placed the glass on the counter, stopping himself from smashing it in frustration. “Dammit, I celebrated too early.”

Though Dario was certain the boats bound for Red Island would leave on the last night of the cruise, he still assigned Reo and Everett to stay up late and keep watch. He gave them a tablet that monitored the trackers Jubjub planted, a gift from the mysterious Professor. Reo pushed it to Everett. He was allergic to responsibility.

No sleep for the two of them, but Reo was more than fine with it because of the following developments in their stupid mission to get themselves killed. Or lack of developments.

Reo asked Dario what to do if something did happen that night. What if their targets moved? Dario gave Reo’s most wished-for answer—do nothing. They wouldn’t have time to infiltrate the cruise ship’s innards and stow away on the fishing boats.

Pressing his luck, Reo then wondered aloud about the plan they’d execute the next day. Was there one? Dario confirmed Reo’s suspicions and gave him his second most wished-for answer—there was no plan. It was very risky, Dario had explained. They didn’t have the firepower to fight half the monsters Reo saw through Sneak—mutated mutants, failed experiments most likely—much more the powerful Adumbrae guarding Red Island. Dario told them not to share his decision with the others just yet, though he was resolved that they were going to forego their mission to destroy Red Island, settling instead for data collection.

Reo squealed in delight like a girl getting asked out to prom by the handsomest guy in school. Yesterday, he was pulling his hair out trying to think of a way to escape the mission while keeping some sense of dignity intact. All that stress for nothing!

On the flip side, he had nothing to be stressed about anymore!

One more day for their cruise. And a half, counting the return trip. He could still have some semblance of vacation.

But reality backstabbed him just when he thought he was safe, like what Rofirio did when he had his eyes closed summoning a fairy. Reo sighed, letting his exhalation roll into a resigned groan. “I didn’t expect the vacation portion of this cruise to be so short-lived.”

The bartender turned his way, tilting his head to ask if he was ordering more.

Reo looked past the bartender at two young ladies sitting at the opposite end of the counter. Rare to see women around his age on this cruise; they were usually twice as old or older. A retiree fest. One of them, a petite brunette with long fake lashes, glanced his way. He was tempted to raise his glass.

He didn’t.

He faced the bartender again, shook his head, and left. Time to be an idiot.

“Where are you Erind-o, my friend-o?” Reo muttered as tried to trace her steps.

His instincts screamed at him to do anything else. He could play rock-paper-scissors with his eyes closed against a monkey if there was one on board, and that would be a better use of his time. He could look for that monkey rather than trying to find Erind. A callback to when he was paired with Erind for the infiltration mission, he was once again violating his motto about not wanting to die.

The threat of death wasn’t really on the table. Hopefully. But he was actively looking for trouble.

“Nope, not here,” Reo said, peering down a hallway. And then another.

He picked one path and jogged to the end. Empty. Maybe the other way? He wouldn’t see her if she had entered a room. Unlikely that she did. He doubled back and went left. There was just this nagging sense he shouldn’t leave Erind be. During his mission, he had grown to like her. Her passion for doing what was right was admirable. She kept pace with them despite being a normal human in a world of monsters.

Reo considered himself a monster. Human society wouldn’t accept him if they knew what he was—a fake Corebring. An abomination. Some might even consider him a heretic. There was no more normal life for him. He had made plenty of wrong choices in his life. Too many to count; thinking about each of them made him want to punch himself.

The wrongest choice of all was giving up his humanity to be something he wasn’t meant to be—a hero

Erind ignited the spark that was once in Reo’s heart. He was placed in a position where he was in charge of their survival. And they survived. He was a hero. Just give me this one.

After completing their mission with flying colors, more than fifty percent of Reo’s mind was convinced that he could do this. This, being putting himself in life-or-death situations and changing something in this bullshit world.

Then that pesky thing happened—time passed.

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Reo thought more about the situation before he slept the previous night. He slept for only one hour, staying up until three in the morning and waking up at four to continue his torture. Thought torture, worse than any physical torture. Gone was the motivation. His more logical side returned. Not coward side, he wanted to make that clear.

No matter how much he wanted to be a hero again, there’d be no heroics if he was dead. Dario canceling their mission proved him right.

With that settled, one last thing bothered him. Reo replayed the infiltration mission many times to justify his choice to try to run away. While doing so, there was something odd about how it played out, especially towards the end, from the time he closed his eyes and summoned Sneak. Erind was… too brave.

Not recklessly brave like Myra. Not overconfident or arrogant. Or even naïve.

Unafraid was a better way of putting it.

Erind showed signs of fear. Her trembling voice, the shaking hands. She showed bravery in pushing through that fear, wanting to complete their mission.

But Reo couldn’t feel that she was… truly afraid. The vibe was missing from her. He was an expert in the ways of the vibe when it came to women, and in his expert opinion, there was this wrongness with Erind. He wasn’t sure if he’d go as far as to say she was faking it.

Maybe she was.

After this realization, other wrong things popped out to Reo. She seemed too strong to push him back to the elevator. Not knocking on Erind or anything, but he didn’t expect her to be able to carry half her body weight. She was practically a stick!

What about those strange sounds? Why did she go out of the room they were hiding in? And what was that about while she was pushing him? Was there something going on while he had his eyes closed? Was he crazy, or was it too much of a coincidence they didn’t encounter any danger on their way back, while he was at his most vulnerable?

Knowing his shitty luck, something wrong should’ve happened. Could it be, that Erind fought without him knowing? If she could fight, then that means…

“Erind has an artificial Core,” Reo muttered as he jogged. That was the conclusion he reached during his thought-torture session

Deen, Erind’s best friend, readily accepted an artificial Core. Reo could imagine Deen convincing Erind to follow her example. Erind was the sort of timid person who’d be easy to rope around with good old peer pressure.

As to why they didn’t tell him, Reo was sure Dario had his reasons. To keep Erind as a secret weapon? If she got kidnapped again, that’d give the 2Ms a big surprise. That was their business.

However, Reo hoped that he was wrong about Erind having superpowers. He’d be sad if Erind had given up her humanity too. She was such a nice girl; she shouldn’t be part of this.

Was that why he was looking for her? What would he say if he did find her?

A few minutes later, he was back at the intersection he started from.

“A wetsuit for… water. Barefoot. I’m so stupid!” He spun around and broke into a sprint, heading for a door leading to the outer part of the deck.

There was a lot of ‘outside’ where Erind could’ve gone, but Reo had a strong inkling which way to go. He headed to the front part of the ship. The bulbous bow was further forward.

He stared at the darkness of the vast ocean as he exited to the front deck. No Erind. No monkey. No whiskey. Just the strong winds carrying the sounds of massive waves slapping the ship.

Was he wrong?

His ultra-reliable instincts that had kept him alive so far despite all of his stupidity was telling him that he was right. Reo held the sides of his head and closed his eyes. Drippings of the genius kid he once was before not giving a fuck about the world starting in high school slowly returned.

“Okay, let’s put the pieces of the fucking puzzle together,” he said. “Assuming Erind has superpowers…”

Their mission was canceled. Erind, however, has her own secret mission. Something that only she could do with her powers. Powers so special that Dario kept it under wraps. Her mission should be something along the lines of infiltrating the bulbous bow.

Dario didn’t want Reo and Everett to tell the others that their Red Island trip was canceled because they’d find out Erind was missing. Everett would tell Deen, who’d then look for Erind to share the news. Dario was probably going to spring this thing tomorrow so that none of them could stop Erind. Reo could see Deen raising hell.

Reo ran out in the cold night, to the end of the deck, and looked over the railings.

Mostly fucking darkness.

He traced the railings, praying to the Mother Core he wouldn’t spot anything. His prayers usually didn’t work.

Nothing. Nothing. And then something. His balls dropped. There was something there!

He fumbled for his phone and turned on its flashlight, mentally punching himself for belatedly thinking about this. The light was swallowed by the darkness below, but it did catch a wisp of blonde before it disappeared, hidden beneath the curve of the ship. That looked like a head.

Was he hallucinating?

If not, then what the hell did he see? A mermaid that stuck to the ship? A phantom golden retriever? A random wig blown by the winds? Or… the head of Amber Deen?

The last option was a piece that snuggly fit the puzzle. Deen’s power was great for infiltration, so it made sense she’d go with Erind. She wouldn’t let Erind go alone. Jubjub might be with them too.

In sum, the real mission was still a go. Useless members like Reo would stay on the ship.

Reo was relieved that he wasn’t part of this.

But this didn’t sit right with him. It should’ve been called off altogether. Those girls shouldn’t risk their lives while the rest of them stayed back. He didn’t have a chivalrous side, not counting the fake façade he used three dates max before just dropping being gentlemanly. This was facing reality. This was a suicide mission!

So… what was he going to do about it?

Was he going to stick his nose and neck, in this dangerous matter?

“I can’t let Erind do this,” he said, surprising himself with his words. He didn’t even know why he said that or why specifically her.

He thought of climbing down after Erind and Deen but stopped himself. They wouldn’t listen to him, and he might get dragged into their mission. Survival first. No heroics. And no beating around the bush, he was scared of getting swept away into the ocean.

Reo ran back inside the ship to find Everett. Push the responsibility onto others, his patented technique.

Then he remembered to check his phone. Thankfully, he brought it, though it was in silent mode. He didn’t want to bother with his phone tonight because he was already in celebration mode. He didn’t expect something like this to happen. Rather, he didn’t want to know if something did happen.

But now he wanted to know!

He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He knew what this was about when he opened the message.

“The ships are moving,” Reo read with gritted teeth.

Did Dario know that this’d happen? Was that ‘last night of the cruise’ explanation all bullshit? Or maybe Dario thought that but he was alerted that the departure was tonight. The thingamajigs that Jubjub installed must’ve given him a heads-up. He then sent Erind, Deen, and Jubjub to sneak on the boats. What else would their mission be?

“They’re going to the Red Island,” Reo said, his hands going cold.