The crackling of a burning fire and occasionally, rumbles from a collapsing wall rang out in the smoke-filled air. Sharp sirens set off far in the distance, waking Ellowyn from her slumber. She opened her eyes gently, surveying the situation.
A burning wreckage was all that remained of her second most idiotic action ever. Columns of smoke rose to the twilight sky, whatever was left of the warehouse was still on fire. It seemed the people who she intended to blow up has survived, seeing how they were either lying down and groaning or walking around, helping other fallen comrades.
“Owie”. She groaned in pain as she tried to move her body. She discovered that a large piece of wall had her trapped under. It was impossible for my tired, bruised and battered body to move out of this mess. The fear of being captured again overtook her but was soon dismissed when her captors dragged themselves into a small bus and quickly drove off.
The only problem then was the incoming law enforcement, it meant that she was going to be saved, but it also meant that she was going to be taken back to her father. While her desire to know why he had locked her in was almost as strong as her goal to explore this world, she had no intention of visiting him in such weakened state, he could have simply put her in that prison again. She needed to escape from this place.
Perhaps the system can help me. She began to inquire the system for the means to get out, trying various methods of body enhancement to teleportation, while she was surprised that some options such as teleport were available, their preparation time was too long, the shortest option needed 2 days. Finally, she stumbled across one that was usable immediately, only to frown.
Warning, 5% energy remaining, reserved for life preservation
Would she die if the system runs out of energy? Probably, since her non-beating heart still needed time to recover.
“Could I at least change my hair color? “ She whimpered, right before squealing in joy as the appearance change screen popped up.
She wasn’t sure if it was the right idea at the time, but since her consciousness threatened to gave out at any moment. She decided to go with the simplest option and changed her appearance back to what she looked like on Earth.
Her once slightly convex and long nose was then short and straight, her reflective champagne hair was then hazel brown and her blood red eyes turned dark chocolate brown.
##
To Clive Davis, it was just another explosion caused by some idiot's mis-care in handling the potential bombs that are fuel cells, there were also cases where these things go off by themselves, having been stored in unfavorable conditions. But some bystander just had to see vehicles driving away from the scene, despite the fact that it was natural for humans to flee or in this case, drive away from the nearest explosion, he was still forced to go investigate.
The smell of burnt rubble, smoke and dust assaulted him as soon as he stepped off the car. The paramedics and firefighters were busy running everywhere looking for survivors, not that there were to be any, warehouses weren't very popular gatherings due to its very explody nature.
Something stopped him in his tracks, looking at the very center of the explosion, there was a small circle of the clear ground as if the explosion couldn't reach that tiny area at all. It occurred to him that the area could have only been created by forcefields, but how can such a small field provide complete protection at the center of a fuel cell explosion is anyone's guess.
He also concluded that there was a good reason for those cars to flee, as various broken weapons and armors were laying on the charred ground. Before he had a chance to take in the situation, a tiny scream reached his ears. He cursed and stopped abruptly, almost stepping on a small head and arm which were poking through a piece of fallen wall.
"Can you hear me?" the figure's head turned to the source of his voice, nodding lightly. She groaned as he pulled her out of the rubble. After calling the medics over, besides a few bruises, she seemed to be fine. Despite her obvious well being, what she was wearing could be described as rags.
Clive had then understood her predicament, or so he thought. He believed the warehouse was the gathering of a local gang, it was used to house their weaponry and often times, trafficked humans, these things were rare but not impossible. He was glad to leave this wretched place, for his job also included the counsel and interview of people who survived from giant explosions.
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##
The silvery streaks of lights poured through the window, landing softly on Alice’s dazed, pale amber eyes. Tom Price sighed as he watched his daughter being examined.
"There is no problem with her overall health, but her depression is getting worse. You need to let her make contact with more people, more often." The doctor warned.
Alice's quiet self had prevented her from making many friends, not that Tom's delicate position as the CEO of Eve Corp had helped. He knew well she also missed her mother very much. All of which had been caused by the choices he made in the past.
He sighed, berating himself wasn’t going to make Alice feel any better. A familiar figure walked by as he absentmindedly looked out the busy corridor.
"Mister Clive! Fancy meeting you here." the figure turned at his shout. The downside to being the CEO of a large corporation was the many attacks aimed at his family, as a government agent, Clive had often come to investigate the attack site and delivered him the results, not that they have provided much help.
"Hi Tom, I'm here to counsel a trafficked little girl who survived a fuel cell explosion. I've already mailed you the report of the attack on the 7th". Clive answered casually.
Tom showed a surprised look, however. "Is it alright if I see her?" He asked, his tone conveyed his interest.
"She is in room 304, I'm coming to see her now, I suppose you could talk to her after I’m finished with my interview. Are you trying to adopt her too ?" Clive concluded.
Tom had often told him about his attempts to adopt someone of Alice's age. They weren't very successful, for the few that accepted the adoption had quickly given up after witnessing the attacks. So much so that many orphanages had refused his further attempts. Tom prayed silently that this time, he would succeed in finding Alice a friend.
##
The ever familiar scene of a hospital room greeted Ellowyn as she opened her eyes. She chuckled at the thought that this life of hers was a video game, and the hospital would be the spawn point for every time she makes an idiotic decision.
She then began to contemplate on the events that had transpired. To her conscious self, it had seemed to be only less than a day after she made the life-changing decision, but according to her recently merged memories, 18 years had passed. She grimaced, it was the 16 imprisoned years of her life. Back on Earth, she was able to experience the outside almost fully, despite her innate sickness and albino appearance, even on trips to amusement parks, she would sit on a nearby bench and watched her family on the rides, perhaps with a little jealousy, but she had felt happiness to be with them nonetheless.
She was surprised that she hadn’t been overwhelmed by the sad and loneliness of this life, while such emotions still persisted, they had taken a passive role, laying in the back of her mind as a dull ache to remind her of their existence. It seemed that because she had remembered of a satisfying and happy life, the burning thirst inside her had been quenched. It was time to start a new adventure, her eyes filled with determination.
There was a knock on the door, a middle-aged, brown-haired man wearing a bowler hat entered, she recognized him as the person who found and rescued her.
“Hi there, I’m Clive, It's alright, little miss, everything will be fine. I know that you have been through quite a lot. You can be assured that I won’t do you any harm, I just need to ask you a few questions about what had happened. But we can always do this another time if you’re still not feeling well, okay? ”. He said with a calm voice while looking at her with a warm smile.
She was puzzled, why would he treat her as a child when she was already 18 years old? Then it came to her, that with her frail, short statured body, she appeared to be only about twelve to fourteen. She proceeded to tell him her hastily made up story. That she had lost her memories, only remembering events from the last few years.
She described her daily life as being locked inside a cage, with her captors telling her she was a very delicate good, they were supposed to transfer her to her buyer at the warehouse, but something went wrong and the fuel cell that they were transporting exploded. She also affirmed him that she was at least sixteen.
“Thank you, I can assure you that from this point onward, your life will be much better, you will be given much more care when we transfer you to an orphanage, you will make lots of friends and learn many new things.” He spoke gently and passionately, his voice filled with assurance.
She smiled in return, he had made her feel safe, that her rough life from then would be peaceful, no more were the dark days of being locked anywhere, no more would she had to run head first into an explosion, or so she thought.
“Ah, I how could I forget, there was a man here who wanted to adopt you, his name is Tom Price, he is the CEO of Eve Corp”. Clive exclaimed.
She was incredulous. What is it with me and CEOs?
“Clive, you’re making it sound as if I’m a bad guy”. A rough voice came from the opening door, a man in a luxurious business suit entered, he had yellowish-brown skin and his build, while large, did not emphasize his plumpness. The thing that had intrigued her the most, though, was the pair of rabbit ears hanging on his head.