"Mirabelle, any news from taskmaster Violets squadron?" Bramford inquired when she finally arrived at one of her many penthouses situated throughout the metropolis. Upon arriving, the luxurious penthouse and the main lounge was empty which was why she removed the jacket she was wearing with the help of Mirabelle, the blindfolded taskmaster.
"Not yet lady Ella, our scouts haven't picked up anything yet but from what I've heard, Taskmaster Violet is quite efficient. Subject #92153 will be recovered in time" Mirabelle explained while she placed her master's jacket onto the coat rack beside the entrance elevator.
"From what I've heard, taskmaster Violet was described to be a ticking time bomb. Are you sure she can handle it?"
"That may be true but it's because of that, that I'm sure the threat will be eliminated" Mirabelle reassured her while Bramford flopped onto the black leather couch and removed her uncomfortable but expensive high heels.
"You seem oddly confident about her. Is she a friend of yours?"
"Yes lady Ella. We grew up together" Mirabella answered her when she approached Bramford and waited for her next request.
"Oh, well please explain. And fetch the red wine while you're at it" Bramford ordered with some curiosity as to her past.
"Are you sure lady Ella? Our superiors warned us to give caution to those that wish to hear of our training. It can be rather gruesome" Mirabella warned her while entering the professional kitchen area and grabbing an expensive bottle of red wine from one of the top counters.
"Of course I am. This is a cause for celebration remember? Savings day is coming up soon and Project Zero is nearly complete. A Sentinel was even sent from the central branch to oversee and report the results" Bramford joyously explained while sitting back and getting comfortable.
"A sentinel?" Mirabelle asked when she returned with a bottle and a champagne glass. She gently placed the champagne glass beneath a coaster, on top of a Babylonian glass round coffee table.
"Oh didn't I tell you? Well either way, be weary of her. She's Laeremwenian. They're all deceitful" Bramford warned her while Mirabelle poured some wine into the champagne glass.
Mirabelle stopped for a second after hearing the warning but continued. Only then did Bramford actually remember her assigned taskmasters home country.
"O-Oh, my apologies Mirabelle. I forgot" Bramford quickly apologised while chuckling softly.
"No lady Ella, it was an easy mistake. You're too kind for apologising" Mirabelle reassured with a forced smile on her face.
"What was her name again?" Bramford inquired, looking up in thought while taking a small sip from her champagne glass. "Yoo Suu Hia?" she asked, still trying to get to it.
"I think you mean Yue Chu-Hua lady Ella. It means Chrysanthemum" Mirabella corrected her with her head lowered respectfully.
"Oh, that's such a beautiful name. If only she wasn't a bitch" Bramford remarked after taking another sip from her champagne glass. "I heard from Cassandra that our evaluation reports were already sent back to Laeremwen. You know what that means right? She hasn't even met us but she already thinks she knows us. She probably doesn't even know the difference between the Chrysanthemum and the Chrysanth" she continued, still drinking from her glass.
"Of course lady Ella" Mirabella agreed.
"Say, can you speak Laeremwenese of whatever? Their native tongue, can you speak it?" Bramford wondered out of curiosity.
"Wǒ dāngrán kěyǐ nǐ zhège chǔn biǎo zi. Yěxǔ rúguǒ nǐ zhēn de bǎ nà bǎ yín sháo cóng zuǐ lǐ ná chūlái, nǐ jiù bù huì zhème nánshòule." Mirabelle said in a philosophical tone, raising her head and smiling at her master
"Oh, what does that mean?"
"… I do. I am so very happy for your kindness lady Ella and I wish you great happiness for your future" Mirabelle translated before respectfully bowing before her. Bramford gasped in awe and flattery with her hand on her chest.
"Oh my god, that's so sweet. I wish you great happiness for your future as well Mirabelle" Bramford returned mutually.
MEANWHILE…
OUTSIDE NOVATARIUS, SERPENT CITY, PRIMROSE METROPOLIS
A remarkable explosion went off through one of the many city blocks located outside of Novatarius. While still sitting in the middle of the road, Nulara stared at the magnificent explosion in awe which suddenly burst from all of the visible shadows cast throughout the city block.
That was when she realised why her scalp was tingling, it was because of a missing strand of hair, taken from her.
Majority of the windows throughout the city block shattered under the shockwaves generated by the burst of flames and finally, Nulara noticed a body propel out of one of the shadows cast on the vertical walls of a tall building. That body was in fact mine and upon crashing into the guard railing across the two-lane road, it bent outward from my landing.
"Madison? M-Madison!!" Nulara called out to me before she stood up and ran up to me out of worry.
Steam rose from the scorched sections of my body but sparks of green lightning sparked around my form, generating a regenerative healing factor for myself in spite of what has happened to me. I coughed uncontrollably from the heat and smoke exiting my body but it's not like I could do much of anything right now, not in this state.
"Fuck…" I cursed softly in-between a cough while looking around. Thankfully, I could feel an enormous amount of electricity surging through the distribution lines of the block alongside the bioelectric fields of all the people within my range of reception. I was finally outside again.
Nulara's presence was also close-by too but unfortunately, so was hers. As soon as I felt her familiar presence, I quickly sat up and turned to them only to see Violet standing behind Nulara who was still running up to me.
"You piece of shit … mother … fucking" Violet muttered in clear rage and frustration before Nulara approached me out of worry. "Bitch!!!"
Nulara quickly looked behind herself after hearing that woman's voice but an ordinary humans eyes aren't as fast as the speed of darkness. By the time she turned around, Violet shrouded herself in an enormous aura of darkness that exploded into an unfathomable explosion made of the same cold black flames that left me with symptoms of frostbite.
I immediately grabbed Nulara and used what was left of my strength to run away to safety. Only a flash of green electricity was seen within the spray of darkness but thankfully, Violet was so blinded by her rage that was she incapable of realising that we weren't there anymore. Unfortunately, the explosion had a blast radius of 17 miles within only a matter of seconds which covered the entire city block and everyone inside. As much as I hate to admit it, it was impossible for me to save them, no matter how fast I could've moved but so long as I'm safe right now, I can avenge them.
When I descended down on the edge of one of the buildings, my teeth grinded in agony after all of my severe injuries burned all at once. While I was suffering, Nulara remained on top of my left shoulder, watching the gigantic source of darkness bursting from that entire city block in the form of a terrifying mushroom cloud. At the same time, Violets enraged screams travelled within the darkness which allowed us to hear it all very clearly despite the distance.
"That explosion .. isn't it gonna.." Nulara tried to ask out of worry but I leaped up off into the sky and continued speeding over the rooftops as fast as possible. Now that she was distracted, I could finally escape and just like there's a range to my electroreception, there has to be a range to her umbrareception. Nulara continued staring at the explosion in horror before she lowered her head, ignoring the injustice.
"Don't look at it" I suggested in the middle of my next leap and Nulara turned her head away from the injustice. "When I get better, I'll deal with her but until ..." before I could finish, my injuries nearly caused me to lose consciousness but I had no choice but to stick through. "Until I get better"
MEANWHILE…
SOMEWHERE UNKNOWN…
"Welcome lady Chu-Hua, please come right this way" A woman welcomed her upon her arrival of this unknown facility. Chu-Hua stepped out of the elevator and curiously looked around while admiring the architecture of this professionally designed hallway. The armour-plated metallic walls of this secured facility were all designed for protection and at first glance, Chu-Hua was able to identify it's material, base and architectural design simply by rubbing her hand along the wall.
"Thanks. I'm so excited. So this is sub-zero huh … I am impressed" Chu-hua commented on the security of this hidden facility after following after the guide, ordered to give her a tour of the facility.
"I'm happy that you think so lady Chu-hua. All of our scientists are hard at work in the selection of the perfect apostle for Project Zero" The guide explained when she approached one of the larger automatic doors that opened on its own according to her arrival. After the doors opened, Chu-hua curiously ran ahead of her guide out of excitement, admiring the gigantic facility from one of its highest points.
She leaned over the guard railing with her mouth agape in awe, at the lights generated from all of the different sections of the facility, all focusing on different aspects of their research. From up here, Chu-hua was able to witness each and every sector from a bird's eye view, including all of the scientists hard at work in monitoring the subjects for the project.
"Ground sub-zero is an untraceable research facility hidden deep within the earth's crust, undetectable by sonar tracking and electrokinetic reception. Our research, as I've mentioned, is monitoring unique children. Because ideal surrogacy candidates must have an unfettered ego and childlike innocence, these qualities can only be found in children but these aren't the only requirements" The woman explained while she walked along the platform built up high above the facility.
"Right, you're also monitoring specific magical abilities as well right?" Chu-hua asked.
"Exactly" The woman answered her, opening up her tablet and scrolling through various video footage, recorded from various security cameras located through the facility until she found specific footage in the "Kinder garden". "Here, you're welcome to take a look" she offered, handing the tablet over to Chu-hua.
Chu-hua examined the footage and watched a group of scientists, track and monitor various activity through high-density glass, impossible to damage. On the other side, Chu-hua could see a school of children, dressed in blue hospital gowns. The room was bright, colourful and very creative with various toys, playthings and park equipment such as slides, swings and a single seesaw. At first glance, all of the children appeared to be playing together in separate groups, paired throughout the kinder garden while specific children were left out, either forced to play alone or watch others socialise with one another. Chu-hua noticed this and noticed some statistics displayed in the corners of the camera such as the number of subjects in the room in comparison to all of the total subjects in the facility.
31/33
"Wait a second, there's two kids missing. Shouldn't they be here too?"
"Unfortunately, one of the subjects was put in timeout and the other is currently undergoing investigation" The woman explained after awkwardly giving it some thought.
"You're not lying to me are you? Because if you were, it would certainly affect my evaluation report" Chu-hua reminded her.
"Umm … well, you see lady Chu-hua, there were originally 35 subjects but two had to unfortunately undergo euthanasia. I wasn't lying about one of the girls being put in timeout, she's … showing critical signs of Aether potential that could be dangerous for the other children"
"Really? What's her name?" Chu-hua wondered out of curiosity.
"Subject #66194" The woman answered after turning around.
"Subject #66194 huh? .. I see" Chu-hua remarked when she inserted those credentials within the search bar and brought up the child's public characteristics.
||SUBJECT NUMBER: #66194||
||NAME: JADE FARINGRAY||
||SEX: FEMALE||
||AGE: 11||
||BIRTHDATE: 33-02-CXVIII||
||BLOOD TYPE: A+||
||HEIGHT: 144cm||
||WEIGHT: 33kg||
||HAIR COLOUR: BLONDE||
||EYE COLOUR: BLUE||
Chu-hua raised a brow at the child's identity and looked up at the woman. "Jade .. Faringray? The only daughter of Amelia Faringray, the former northern commander and the Sage of Earth"
"Umm .. well, I .. I understand how this must look but I assure you. Subject #66194 showed the most potential on her psychological report and she displayed vital signs of magic at such an early age. Lady Cassandra placed her at the top of our priorities, irrespective of who her mother is" The woman fumbled, unsure of how to react to the sentinels disappointment.
Chu-hua stared at the woman in a serious manner until her expression suddenly turned soft. "Oh, Cassy chose her? Well then why didn't you just say so" she asked, laughing at her reaction. She playfully threw her arm around the woman and continued walking alongside her. "Well, if Cassy thinks she's that important then who am I to judge!"
The woman happily proceeded to give Chu-hua a tour throughout the entire facility, showing her every single sector while explaining the importance of it. Ground sub-zero -as mentioned before- is an undetectable research facility that can't be accessed under normal circumstances, designed for the sole purpose of continuing the research necessary for Project Zero.
A few minutes later, the entrance doors to the main office within the research facility slammed open when Chu-hua barged through and called out to her comrade. "Cassy! Long time no see right? How long has it been? Two years?" she asked only to see that the main office was completely empty. Not only that but a potent and awful scent filled the entire room which disgusted the girl.
"Huh? .. they said she was here" Chu-hua commented after looking around. The office wasn't necessarily fancy or Babylonian in any reasonable way, all because the room was a complete mess. The entire room was essentially an evidence board, with strings upon strings tethering from the walls and the ceiling with photos hanging from them. Each photo seemed to have a strange connection, indicated by the differently coloured strings connecting each photo to each document hanging from the white strings. Random documents were lying all over the floor which Chu-hua was trying to avoid so as not to mess up whatever her comrade was looking into. "What the hell?"
Chu-hua then pulled down one of the photos which seemed to be an image taken of three kids, leaving a random unfamiliar building. They appeared to be talking to another unrecognisable woman since her back was facing the camera. She then traced the red string connecting it to a few more photos but before she could examine then, she accidentally kicked over a bottle of some yellow liquid, situated beside several more bottles of that same liquid.
"Please don't be what I think it is" Chu-hua begged when she hesitantly picked up one of the bottles for inspection
"Don't worry, it's apple juice" a familiar voice reassured and when Chu-hua turned to her. She smiled upon seeing an old friend. A familiar little girl stood up from behind her modern desk and rubbed her tired, dry eyes.
"Uhh … it might be too late for me to ask this but are you okay?" Chu-hua asked, worried for her friends sake.
"I'm fine, just .. so tired" Cassandra answered her before she walked around her desk and sat down on top of it.
This, was "Cassandra Preston", one of the powerful executives in the Matriarch, and the woman in charge of the research behind Project Zero. She was supposed to be at the meeting as mentioned before but it seems like she was stuck, investigating something entirely else. She is also the same girl I spoke to before, after Nulara and I broke out.
"What were you looking for?" Chu-hua asked out of curiosity when she continued inspecting the documents and photos.
"… Oh right, I completely forgot. Does the name Madison Heath ring a bell to you?" Cassandra asked, picking up a bottle of apple juice and taking a sip from it.
"No? Who's that?"
"Should've expected that. I have looked everywhere but I just can't seem to find any leads on who this girl is. There is no evidence that suggests she even existed before she enrolled at Primrose Academy but it doesn't even end there" Cassandra explained, suddenly regaining all of the energy she lost to her research. She dropped off of her desk and walked up to one of the documents hanging on the other side of the room. "She enrolled two months ago along with … Tempest Stone and Erin Mercer. They never existed before then either so I'm totally stumped here"
"Okay … okay. Can you remind me who these people are again please?" Chu-hua suggested.
"Oh right, you never heard yet. Look, I don't care if you add this in your evaluation or whatever but don't include Madison Heath's death in there. I'm gonna catch her and then she'll be all mine. I've waited four years for this" Cassandra stated while admiring an image of me, taken from my student card. She caressed the image in adoration with a genuine smile on her face.
"Hey!" Chu-hua called out to her, clapping her hands in front of her face. "Who is she? And why shouldn't I include her in my report?'
"Oh right. She's a mysterious student enrolled at the Primrose Academy of Arts. She's in the chivalric arts course and newsflash, she's a fucking genius and quite possibly the most interesting person I've ever seen in my life. Chu-hua, I think I'm in love!" Cassandra exclaimed with pure bliss and joy. She hugged my photo to her chest and spun around like an immature little child.
"Wait .. is she the girl everyone's talking about. The one who threatened to bring down the Matriarch?" she asked but Cassandra answered with excited nods.
"The other executives all want her dead. Lady Catalina's taskmaster, Violet or whatever her name is, took responsibility for Madison's execution. I don't know what's going on right now but I just know Madison's winning. I can feel it in my gut"
"Didn't this Madison kidnap Subject #92153?" Chu-hua asked, releasing the document and allowing the string to swing back up into place.
"Subject #92153 was untethered. Great magical potential, I'll admit but she failed to meet the requirements for an unfettered ego. She's abrasive, rude and honestly, a little brat and I planned on erasing her but I guess Madison got to her first" Cassandra explained while she released the photo and hurried to her desk to continue her research on "Madison Heath". She grabbed her laptop, turned it around and continued typing away at it.
"What else do you know about this Madison?" Chu-hua inquired when she approached Cassandra and took a peek at the laptop from over her shoulder.
"She's an electrokinetic with a keen understanding on electrical equipment and hacking. I mean most electrokinetics can hack into .. well, anything with an electrical security. At the end of the day, all of a computer's instructions boil down to little electrical impulses, which are the essence of binary code. Normally, a compiler is required to convert human language to binary, but Madison does not require one because she can sense the energy. Imputing instructions is normally a hard and time-consuming task, but she can make it a lot easier because she can directly affect the circuits with her electrical energy, and her ability has developed to the point that she now has incredible processing capacity. From the looks of it, she's a great tactician too but not a genius. Her eyes are always closed for some reason so I assume she instead relies on her electroreception and her other senses of course"
"I don't suppose you have other electrokinetics in the Matriarch?" Chu-hua asked.
"Unfortunately not anymore. We had one but she was maimed in the line of duty, it was horrible really"
"How about an Aerokinetic?" Chu-hua asked which made Cassandra stop to think of a valid lie.
"As much as I hate to admit it .. we do. I just .. didn't bother to mention that to the executives. Gloria probably guessed that an Aerokinetic would be useful but she doesn't really care. She's only interested in her own devices" Cassandra awkwardly explained, feeling so guilty for refusing to let out this information.
"Oh well, she'll eventually run into an aerokinetic but let's just hope she doesn't lose so quickly"
"You aren't mad?" Cassandra asked.
"You made this Madison out to be an interesting character. I'm a little curious to see what she's capable of to be honest"
MEANWHILE…
SOMEWHERE IN SERPENT CITY, PRIMROSE METROPOLIS
At the edge of Serpent, there sits two sister shipping warehouses, 69 and 420, morway street, hulking above the Northern River and Blue Hook's industrial wasteland. It used to be rather busy in the past but because of a dying industry, it is now left completely undisturbed and unused thus making it the perfect hiding spot at the moment.
Nulara was fast asleep in the corner of one of the dusty rooms, warmed up by her own dying body heat. It seems that her own hair was responding to the cold and started glowing abnormally, acting as a warm blanket for her body.
"Man … magic sure is weird. Do you think her voodoo magic has a mind of its own?" Erin joked when she appeared before Nulara, admiring her glowing hair.
It probably wasn't the safest substitute for a blanket but I didn't care. I already stood up on my own but every single nerve in my body burned, screaming for me to stop. Hypertrophic scars lined certain sections of my body but the majority of it was visible all over my left arm which Nulara seemed to have bandaged clumsily. Obviously I did it myself with the help of my electricity but at least she tried, even though it was a terrible job.
Erin casually sat up and approached me. "So, what are you gonna do now? You're not looking so good".
When I quietly tried to open one of the broken windows, it made an annoying commotion that woke up Nulara from her nap.
"W-Wha? .. Wait! Madison! Where are you going?" Nulara immediately questioned when she stood up and ran up to me.
I sighed.
"Oooo … really thought you could leave the kid here didn't you?" Erin asked me when she suddenly appeared by my side, leaning into the wall with her arms crossed.
"Out. I'm not finished yet"
"But you can't go. Y-You're missing an arm and your body. You can't fight them like this" Nulara warned me and grabbed onto my arm to stop me but I pulled my only free arm from her which pushed her onto the floor.
"Hurting kids now? Really? Come on, I thought you were better than that" Erin continued to joke around.
"Stay out of it" I warned her before I proceeded to climb out of the window, while trying my hardest to ignore the annoying bitch that refuses to leave me alone.
"No! Madison! You're going to get yourself killed!"
I continued ignore her and tried to ignore the uncomfortable itchiness while also trying to resist the urge to scratch it. Oh right, it's not that I even could if I tried.
"Madison! Don't! I'm serious!" Nulara angrily screamed at me before her long fiery red hair glowed with the incandescence of pure rage. Erin pouted, impressed by her fear, disguised as anger.
"Oooo .. so scary" Erin quipped and chuckled soon after. "Don't listen to her, make the jump. Maybe you can still draw out your aether energy in this state … or maybe not. Who knows really? Oh right … I do. Scary isn't it? Isn't it Madison"
"Just stay here and shut up. You'll be safe here" I reminded her before climbing out of the window and preparing to make a drop. To be honest, I was a little scared because I wasn't even sure if I could even empower my own body in this state.
"Come oooon, need a little push? Do it"
"This isn't about me! I don't know her but…" Nulara tried to persuade me but Erin interrupted her.
"Do it!! Jump! Come on! Madison! I will fucking push you if you don't!" Erin screamed, placing her hands on my back and threatening to push me even further which nearly made me lose my balance. I'm not immortal. This warehouse is four stories tall. A jump from here would certainly be lethal. Landing on your side might be the best way to survive a fall because it doesn't take much of a fall to cause damage. If I can't draw out any aether energy then I'm dead and I can't die now but I can't stay here either. I have a mission and I'll be damned if I wait any longer to kill those fuckers. I need to make a decision now! Make a decision Madison! Jump! Do it! Fucking jump already!!!
"Jump!!!" Erin screamed once more.
"I SAID SHUT UP!!!!!" Nulara screamed at the top of her lungs which turned her eyes into glowing orbs of fire alongside her hair. This wave of unbearable heat passed throughout the entire building in response to her state of rage. The sound of her scream and the heat made me close my eyes after I nearly had a heart attack. Why did she scream so loud? I didn't even say anything.
"STOP TELLING HER TO KILL HERSELF!!?" Nulara ordered with her malicious eyes targeting none other than Erin.
Both Erin and I awkwardly turned our heads to her in raw shock. Nulara finally calmed down with short panicked breaths while her eyes and hair returned to normal.
…
…
…
"Holy shit, she can see me?" Erin stated, speechless from the shock.
TO BE CONTINUED…