The dossier had only a rough sketch that seemed to be close enough to the boy he saw. Anger immediately boiled through his veins wanting to lunge at the man for withholding something so important. It was a fruitless effort, which is why he kept himself in check. “What?! I haven’t heard anything about this! You had a suspect and you said nothing to me?!” Masayuki clenched his hands.
“Mr. Hayashi has been determined to be directly involved with the Shattered Japan Incident. His capture has been our highest priority, but he disappeared completely. We didn’t know where he went after the Incident until now. We kept it in the higher ups because he is considered to be the most powerful Powered created from this. So we have no way of successfully capturing him.”
He had a little trouble believing the report, but he had experienced the power that the boy wielded first hand. It might have been a simple to understand power, but it was the most threatening for the UN Powered Division. Someone like him couldn’t be captured through normal means. His frustration at the allowed situation didn’t change his anger. “You can’t be serious, sir! If someone so powerful is out there we have to stop him! We might be able to get answers on why this happened and finally bring peace to Japan!”
“I understand how you feel, Captain.” Takeshi pulled the file back and fixed the order. He slid it down to his desk. “However, I must order you not to engage with him. We’ve kept this private because we have no way to combat him as you saw in your engagement. Until we have a way to successfully capture him without it being a certainty we’ll lose we choose to keep the matter classified. Since he had disappeared, we had hoped that would have given us enough time to find a way to address him. I only told you because I admire your resolve. We need more people like you to help bring peace to Japan. I don’t want you recklessly endangering yourself.”
“That’s not right, sir!” Masayuki turned away, unable to hold in his anger. He was given an order to do nothing when they had a potential lead to the cause. He understood, but it didn’t stop him from his emotions. It was frustrating being so close. Yet, the display he saw from Yuki made him understand how powerful he was. It was definitely a threat to the peace of Japan.
Takeshi rushed over and grabbed his shoulder. “I gave you an order, Captain. This is the same as the UN. Don’t engage.”
Breaking free from his grip with ease, Masayuki pushed aside the tent flap. He looked back at the man. “Yes, sir. I understand.”
Chapter 313 – Most Wanted
With the room cleared of lower ranked members, the high ranked UN officers looked up from their work. General Evans, the British dispatched commander that headed all operations, kept a stoic yet stern expression for the Japanese man. The man might have been a normal human like the rest, but he was still Japanese like the rest of the Powered. It still placed him in suspicion. “We still haven’t identified this Yuki Hayashi as the source or even involved in the matter. This is purely something your company seems to believe.”
Takeshi continued to hold a pleasant business smile on his face dealing with the threatening General. “General, someone or something has caused this situation. Someone bearing powers described by the young man Masayuki is very curious. Able to completely negate someone else’s power.”
“Even so, logically it doesn’t make any sense for someone that is Powered to have created this situation. The Powered appeared after the Incident. If he is involved as you seem to believe, then he would have to be something different.”
The mousy-looking businessman’s smile cracked a little, but held together for the most part. “Yes, that would make sense. Wouldn’t it?”
General Evans’ face narrowed a little, staring down the man. “Given that you believe this, do you have a way to capture him? If his powers are as reported.”
“My company has been developing a means for capturing him. The normal cells we’ve been providing you negate a Powered’s abilities, but we’ve been capturing greater numbers of stronger Powered lately and discovered that more advancements are needed. Someone as potentially powerful as Yuki Hayashi would need a special confinement made for him.”
“If he is active again now. Will you be ready for the next time he surfaces?” Even if he doubted the man, he believed the reports of what he did. Ignoring him being the cause, he was a threat with such power. He would completely shut down their peacekeeping efforts. The Powered teams would be useless.
Nodding to the worried General, Takeshi assured him, “Arihyoshi will be ready for Yuki Hayashi.”
Outside the tent, Masayuki rejoined his team. They all had the demanding look of wanting to know their next orders. Babysitting investigators wasn’t their idea of worthwhile time spent. They merely hoped that one of the terrorists would walk into the base and give them something interesting to do. Hayashi’s appearance was exactly what they wanted.
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“Our leader looks angry,” Umari teased, easily seeing the emotions painted over his face.
“Did they spank you for failing to capture two Powered?” Hanari taunted.
He looked out at the four members of his team. They weren’t what he wanted. They had no interest in peace or stability. They weren’t like him. Yet it was what he had to work with. They were the only thing he had. “We have new standing orders. In addition to capturing rogue Powered, we will be actively searching for the Powered named Yuki Hayashi. He is considered the highest priority target in Japan.”
“So we’ll get to fight them again,” Nawabe remarked with a grin coming across his face.
“Umari, were you able to copy his power?”
“No. Normally, I’m able to remember anyone’s power, but there is something different about the way his power works. I got the feeling that it wasn’t like the rest of us.”
Hanari looked over at Umari as did the others with curiosity. “Someone not like us? Sure it’s not just because you didn’t have your power when it happened?”
“I can remember powers when I’m unconscious. My body remembers it. With him, it was like he wasn’t even there. Like he wasn’t even using a power.”
Masayuki stared at her for a moment while he let that absorb. ‘He really is dangerous. Something will have to be done about him. I will find you, Yuki Hayashi. You can’t escape me.’
* * *
There were definitely more important matters as Phoibe stated. Directed into a deeper wing of her business, something physically impossible for her space, she showed them all to where what remained of the Hiroshi Faction. Rin immediately found her Commander and ran off to report in.
Yuki hovered near the threshold with Phoibe. He could see everything and the signs it painted. “So you’re the one behind it then?”
Smiling at him like she knew nothing, she asked, “Which are you meaning?”
Narrowing his features as he stared at her, he shifted his stance to a power position. “I’m tired of everyone thinking I’m an idiot. I’m not blind. Their base, you made that for them.”
“Is that what you think? I’m just a businesswoman giving aid to refugees.”
“Right. You can drop the act. Knowing that you’re involved I’ve got most of it already figured out.”
“Well aren’t you a smarty.”
“Hey!” interrupted Seiji. He waved his hand between the two of them to grab their attention. “I don’t see everyone.”
“A lot of people died during the attack,” Phoibe reported.
“No, Saki, Yumi and Fumiko aren’t here. They can’t have died!”
The names of his friends immediately choked up Yuki. It was something that he feared. They were all strong and survived a lot in Atlantis. So he didn’t want to think that they could be killed. “Seiji…are you sure?”
“Yes! I can see everyone in the damn room. Unless you’re hiding more elsewhere, they aren’t here!”
“This is everyone that came back.”
“What the hell?! Where the hell is this Hiroshi?!” Seiji started marching into the room blindly calling out for Hiroshi. He grabbed random people shaking them down for information.
“Damn! Seiji!” Yuki rushed into the large room trying to stop him before he made any more of a scene. But he didn’t have a chance to stop him. Hiroshi surfaced to the calling, though not looking like he wanted to deal with an emotional Seiji. “Seiji!”
Quickly throwing his arm out, Seiji grabbed Hiroshi by the collar. “Where are they?! Tell me you bastard!”
Hiroshi held an initially distant look in his eyes as if he was somewhere else. However, the sound of Yuki’s voice both alerted him and took him away from Seiji. “…Yuki…you’ve come back…”
“I’m talking to you dammitall!”
“Shut up.” Hiroshi casually broke free from Seiji and marched over to Yuki. He hardened his expression in his approach. “Have you made your decision?”
“I’m more interested in the answers you have right now, Hiroshi,” Yuki shot back. He was still stuck on wanting him to pick a side. There was something more important to him at the moment.
“What answers do you want? The fact that Takako wiped out our base. Or that the group leading them was Saki, Yumi and Fumiko and they were killing innocent people.”
Seiji lost it long before Yuki even had time to react. He rammed his fist into Hiroshi’s face, sending him to the floor among a few of the spared survivors. “How dare YOU say that! Take that back right now!”
Largely unfazed by it, Hiroshi lifted himself up ignoring the blood off his lip. “There’s nothing to take back. Not when it’s the truth.”
Lunging at him, Seiji tried to punch Hiroshi again, but Yuki stopped him. The mist had adapted enough from the last time that he figured out what he needed to keep him at bay. “Seiji! Punching him won’t get any answers!”
“You can’t be serious, Yuki! You believe him?” Struggling against Yuki’s power, he hadn’t stopped trying to hit Hiroshi. The look of his detached and cold delivery only made him more angry. It reminded him of how Ayumi could be.
“Explain yourself, Hiroshi before I can’t hold him back anymore.”
“Threatening me now?” Hiroshi glanced over at Yuki. He didn’t seem anymore concerned about his situation with the looming Seiji.
Grinding his teeth together, Yuki hated the situation that they were in. This wasn’t the sort of scene with someone that he thought of as a friend was supposed to play out. They weren’t supposed to be at odds with each other. They should be working together, not at each other's throats. “What happened? Tell me, Hiroshi. What’s changed? I saw your base. I need to know!”
“Are you going to join us?”
“Dammit, Hiroshi! Stop with the sides! I can still help you without picking a side!”
“No you can’t. You need to understand that they’re lost. They’re all lost to us. Reality is not what you want or wish, but how it is. Accept it!”
“I won’t kill friends!”
“Then leave. I don’t want your help. Not someone that can’t fully commit.” Hiroshi stood up brushing past Seiji, still held in place by Yuki. He started to walk away looking back at the survivors. “Naïve ideals won’t change the facts. Your friends have been taken from you. And since you don’t have the resolve, I shall kill them all with my hand. It is the only thing that can be done at this point.” Tilting his head back towards the two of them. “This is the new world.”