Alone in one of the offices of the complex that the UN took over sat Takeshi Shigemitsu. He rested behind the desk of some manager that two months ago used to regularly come on time into work. Now abandoned, it hung in low lighting due to the reduced power available for the whole complex. Much of it had to be diverted to their containment facility hastily constructed to manage the rapid rise of anarchist elements within the city. Despite the highly advanced technology they had yet to improve the power consumption demands made by their technology.

All of the personal effects of the former manager laid in a surprisingly neat pile on the floor. Everything cleared away for Shigemitsu’s work. Contrary to having it all cleared away, he only used it for a single laptop. The only other device that laid on the table was a smart phone.

Finishing up the Furukawa report, he closed the laptop. He stood up to look out the window of the forty-third floor. Below him, the UN command worked on their plans for broadcasting the execution. Within Japan, it was a pointless exercise made only more pointless by the destroyed infrastructure caused by the incident. But that wasn’t the point. It was for everyone else.

Peace and security. The need to feel safe in a world completely turned on its head. People wanted that feeling back. Fear and panic became the common emotions seen on everyone’s face. Made only worse by the extreme prejudice developing out of irrational fears. A situation no one understood stoked the fires to greater heights.

“Plans must be flexible…” He retrieved a small disc shaped device from his pocket and placed it on the desk. A thin beam of light shot out from the perimeter covering the walls in lines of purple light. Passing over all of the surfaces in the room, once completed it displayed a holographic text above it stating “Secure” in Japanese.

Shigemitsu took out a completely different device that he took up to his ear as though it were a phone, yet no ordinary person would have seen it as such. It looked more like a portable hard drive, but without any ports. “Shigemitsu,” he said to declare himself.

“We’ve lost sight of the target again. After the battle they hid Hayashi’s body. Yes, we’ve been tracking him since his return, but they’ve been forced to be more cautious due to the situation.” Listening to the voice on the other end, he received orders. “Yes, I agree. We’re going to need a more permanent way of tracking him. I’ll arrange things on my end to secure that. Something has recently fallen into our hands that should prove a perfect solution to our problem.”

Chapter 367 – Broken Way

“What is this?” Saki asked, staring at something that looked more like it belonged in a sci-fi movie rather than their world. Or something that she would believe that Yuki would dream up. She looked back at Masayuki, insisting on her getting inside it.

He still carried his reluctance about the whole situation. “This is the containment cell that is able to negate the powers that we possess.”

“So I’ll be a normal human in there?”

“That is correct. I don’t know how it works, it’s a technology beyond our understanding.”

“How can such a thing exist?” Saki looked around the chamber, seeing more like cells. ‘It’s only been two months, how can a countermeasure even be available… Though it does explain why the UN even thinks it has a chance now.’

“It works, that’s all I need to know.”

She stared at the cell. It had very little way in movement. Definitely held that sort of containment feeling that rested in its name. With a shape like a stretched out egg and color to match, the only thing that made it seem sort of normal was the large amount of tubes running out of it into the wall. The entire room was filled with tubes and wires and in greater mass than the actual amount of cells. “So these are what you were putting people in, but why do these look different from the ones you had on you?”

“Those are mobile versions with limited power and capabilities. They’re meant only for transport for these, the real ones.”

“But aren’t you transporting all of the people to hospitals?”

“Yes, but we’re getting aid from the supplier to set up rooms that can support them.”

“Good, Hiroshi is going to be over seeing that, right?” She already knew the answer, but needed the confirmation again to see if anything had changed. She wanted to see the reaction on Masayuki’s face so that she could be sure of how things would play out.

He nodded to her. “It was a bit of trouble, but it seems our supplier was in favor of the idea. So he pushed for it as well.”

“Then things are in place.” Saki stepped up into the padded interior of the cell. It had a natural restrictiveness to it that she wasn’t surprised by even without the hatch closed. “Well then I’m going to sleep.”

“I don’t see how you’re agreeing to all of this.”

“The pieces are in place now. I don’t have to worry anymore.” Saki rested her head back and closed her eyes. She wasn’t sure how it was going to feel being normal again. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if she was going to be awake. The others she saw through the small portals on the cells looked to be asleep. ‘I’m not completely without regrets. But Yuki has others I can trust to keep him straight. I’m not the only one that can work in the shadows for him. Not anymore…’

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Masayuki hit the panel to close the hatch and seal away Saki. Tomorrow the end would come for her and he could do nothing about it. Every time that he thought about his powerlessness he squeezed his fists tighter. He could do nothing to stop any of it. ‘This isn’t the sort of thing I signed up to support. But what am I supposed to do? We need the UN’s approval if the world is ever going to trust us. The Japanese people can’t be treated with fear and scorn forever. We’re still humans, even if they don’t want to see us that way anymore.’

He walked out of the room allowing the door to lock behind itself. It used to be a bank vault making it ideal for sealing away the most dangerous of criminals that they caught. The other facilities weren’t so secure, but with them all sealed away it didn’t matter that much.

Across the city, Hiroshi arrived back at their new base climbing out of the tunnel that they dug to get into the school in the first place. It made for an easy escape and a safe way to get Yuki back out of the sight of the UN. Only so much trust could be earned from a first meeting, even for Hiroshi.

He went around checking on all of the survivors from their base being destroyed before doing anything else. ‘If I could afford it I would have preferred to brought more back, but we don’t have the room. And I can’t risk revealing this location. Masayuki might be a good man, but that doesn’t stand for the rest of the UN.’ Everything still had to play out first for him to see what was going to happen. His mind still spun ideas on how to rescue Saki without ruining their chance at some sort of peace with the UN. There were ideas, but he didn’t know how possible they were. It was something Saki decided as well. He fought with it.

Once he finished his rounds, he stepped into the back stairs of the building that Phoibe operated. It took him through the backside of her third floor building and allowed them access out of sight of the normal customers. He could hear the slight buzzing of her machines at work. ‘Everyday it is packed. I know she had a small clientele, but it was never this busy when we came the first time. She doesn’t technically even need the money either…’

While the second floor acted as offices and Phoibe’s apartment, the third floor remained largely empty. There was only some light storage around. It was more than she needed for her purpose, but it suited well for them now.

Hiroshi walked back to the curtained off area past the others that sat around. The empty storage room converted easily into a makeshift base for Yuki’s group and those with Hiroshi. They lined beds up against the wall for everyone that they were protecting. He went over to Miyako’s side first, who remained asleep since they found her among the destruction. Next to her, Kaede was found with her defeated and Katsumi with her arms restored thanks to Nerine. Though all of their wounds had been healed, each remained unconscious for unknown reasons.

Resting his hand on Miyako’s bed, he knew how hard she fought for their dream. ‘The war is over now. But we’ve a new battle to face. The fight for peace. We’re going to be busy when you wake up, this is the world that you fought for Miyako. So join my side once more.’

Finished with this visit, he walked down the row of beds. Found passed out at the front of Phoibe’s door, they brought in Haruo and Fumiko treating their wounds. Then at the far end was Yumi with Yori never leaving her side and Yuki separated from the rest, since Yori insisted on it.

“He’s still out?” Hiroshi asked rhetorically to Seiji.

“Yeah, hell if I know what’s wrong with him.”

Nerine stood at Yuki’s side as well, stepping in with an answer, “The Kin—Yuki Hayashi has exhausted much of his mental power in the fight he had with Takako. His body was also severely broken from the efforts required of him to fight on an equal level as her. He will likely be out for several days to fully recover his mental energy.”

“I see.” Hiroshi stared down at Yuki still having trouble believing everything that he saw. He watched him fight and defeat Takako, who completely walked all over him. He stood no chance against her. Watching the fight, Yuki seemed at moments to be completely invincible and unstoppable, while at other times became completely helpless. It was strange to witness it firsthand. ‘So he does have a limit.’ He always wondered, given what he did to Japan and watched him do in fights. Yuki for all of his weaknesses, seemed so completely different and beyond the rest of them. All any of them could do was just watch his back. And yet it wasn’t like that at all. ‘He’s struggling as well…’

He stepped out from around the curtain, bringing everyone along with him. “We’ve got some things to discuss.” It seemed like an understatement given everything that happened, but it was necessary.

“First, where’s Saki?” asked Seiji, hitting their first topic, and one that Hiroshi wished to avoid.

Unable to answer Seiji, Tatsuya stepped up in the void. “She took the blame for everything and allowed herself to be arrested by the UN as a criminal.”

“What the HELL?!” Immediately, it took Tatsuya and Hiroshi just to keep him in place and that wasn’t proving to be very good. They still were tired from everything that happened and recovering. The same could be said of Seiji, yet he seemed to have ignored all of that. It took Nerine using her powers to tie him down that ended things. “Let me go, Nerine! I’m not letting those bastards lock up Saki!”

“We can’t save her!”

“How dare you, after what I did for you!”

“She went to save all of us! She didn’t want the UN putting targets on all of us. So she’s sacrificing herself for our sake.”

Still trying to fight against the unstoppable powers of Nerine, Seiji fell over on his face. He fought to get himself in a better position, but they couldn’t let him go free. “I’m not letting a friend be locked up! I don’t care what she thinks she’s doing for us!”

“This is the UN we’re talking about Seiji. We can’t be fighting them directly. We can’t start a war with them or it’ll mean going to war with the world!”

“Yuki was right about you.”

Hiroshi knelt down in front of Seiji to stare into his eyes and show his determination to him. “I haven’t given up on Saki. But we’re going to have to go about this carefully. She’s not lost to us.”

“You can tie me up, but once Yuki finds out there’s nothing you’re going to be able to do to stop him. He’ll tear up all of Japan to save her!”

Swallowing carefully, he knew that Seiji was right about that. They all knew that he was right. Friends were the most important thing to Yuki and if someone was in danger he was going to become unstoppable. Hiroshi feared thinking about the sort of destruction that Yuki would wrought upon the UN and Japan just to get Saki back.

He stood up and looked around at everyone gathered. “Then that means we are short on time. We need to come up with a plan and one that Yuki can accept before he wakes up. Otherwise, we’ll be faced with a war that none of us wants. Even if we can win.”

* * *

Closing the vault door behind them, four men in white suits along with Shigemitsu wheeled out one of the containment cells. He trailed behind the group following them through the low lit halls until they came to an elevator. Upon entering the elevator, he pushed the last button on the panel “B10”. The elevator quickly began to move, clicking down the floors through the basement.

When it arrived on the requested floor, the rear doors opened rather than the ones that they entered. A very well lit and pure white hallway stretched out before them. They walked off the elevator pushing the cart into the far end room of the first hall.

Setup inside the room was a wall of monitors and computers dwarfing anything that the UN set up in the building above them. Opposite of the wall a wide array of medical equipment laid stretched out on tables, cabinets and benches.

Shigemitsu retrieved his blank HDD-like device from his pocket. A screen on it suddenly appeared with displays. “The drugs won’t last long on her. Seems she has a high tolerance for it and even in this state she still retains a small portion of her powers. A truly impressive subject. You’ve got thirty minutes. She’s a very important subject so be thorough.”