Bab 23: Episode Twenty Two. (June 5th, 2123. Division-A, South District.)
Pressing the wet rag against the wood siding, Miki chatted as he scrubbed the spray paint off his friend's house. He walked back into the yard where a bucket of dyed red water sat. He curled the cloth around itself and squeezed, draining it before dipping it into another bucket of clean water.
Matoi had a rag of cold water tied around her forehead with another in her hands, scrubbing. She bent her elbow, scrubbing it with all of her force. "Holy crap, Akino. How many cans of spray paint did you use to write this?"
Akino walked back up to the house after draining his rag. "Haha, very funny," he said sarcastically.
Sakagami, Makina, and Yukino sat in fold out chairs along the alley wall just along the edge of their yard, watching on. Sakagami, with her legs spread out in the sunlight, replied, "I told you, it was here after he left."
"Yes, Ms. Sakagami," Matoi responded, giggling, "I was just teasing."
"So, ignoring the fact that I was totally right about Omegas, isn't it pretty cool that we're basically like secret super heroes?" Miki boasted, rubbing the spray paint over his cheek like war paint.
Yukino rolled her eyes, pushing her white bangs out of her eyes. "Stupid, you're not the hero here; its Akino, Matoi, and…" Yukino blushed in embarrassment, turning over to Makina. "I'm sorry, I'm really bad with names."
Matoi chuckled as she scrubbed the 'b' out of 'remember.' "Jeez, Yukino. One would think that you'd remember her name by now."
"And still nobody is telling me!"
"Makina," the red-eyed Omega named.
Yukino shot up, a proud smile on her face. "That's what I thought!"
Akino dug his nails into the cloth's fabric, pushing it into the grain of the wood siding. He sighed, dropping his head down as he stared at his feet. Matoi noticed his change in attitude and directed the subject of conversation to meet his mood. She turned around and leaned against the house, making eye contact with the others. "Heroes isn't the word I'd use. I think…," she glanced at Akino's concerned expression. "I think we're just the result of the world we live in. Adapt or die, right?"
"It's his own fault that things are the way they are," Makina insisted. "Akino, you've gotten your family life involved with this now. You know that, right?"
"Makina…," Matoi mumbled, cautioning her.
"I knew about it before he even told me," Sakagami confessed. She crossed her legs, getting herself comfortable in her fold out chair. "Well, I didn't know the whole picture but he isn't very good at covering his tracks. There's no going back now, I suppose."
"I guess you have no choice but to admit that his nightmares are real, right?" Matoi said smugly, spinning the cloth around her finger.
"If what he whines about is more than just bullshit, then he'll have to take that up with the Head of Security and the Criminal Court. There's nothing I can do about that," Makina instructed. She turned her focus to the boy in question. "Akino, what exactly do you dream about?"
He exhaled and looked over his shoulder, meeting her gaze. "At this point, I'm convinced they're some kind of flashbacks or implanted memories. I don't think they're just my subconscious playing out a movie for me."
"Nobody ever said it was," Matoi said, closing her eyes and tilting her head prestigiously.
Miki dropped his rag and brought all his attention to Akino, eagerly waiting for his info-dump. "Well? Don't hide the meat of the super hero motivation from us!"
The corner's of Akino's mouth uplifted, giggling childishly. He shrugged nonchalantly, not as excited about the topic as his piers are. "I dubbed them as 'dreams' when they first started happening at the start of this year. One night, I accidentally forgot to take one of my sleeping pills before bed, so I just fell asleep naturally."
"What?! You're crazy!" Yukino exclaimed under her breath.
"It started off as just a faint voice… but as time went on, I started getting some visuals- but barely. I was usually just standing in a white void with countless voices screaming into my ears. Then, somebody started conversing with me about Division-A… about how we need to reclaim our humanity, bring us back to our home, and a bunch of other cryptic bull crap."
"That's where I call bullshit," Makina interrupted. "You're already human and this is your home."
Miki rubbed his chin in thought. "Do you think they could be referring to Omegas and Compactors when they talk about the humanity part? There's no denying that Division-A isn't our home, but the rest of the planet is completely demolished. The second we step out of this city, the storm would kill us."
"That sounds awfully scripted and by-the-books for such a conspiracist like yourself, Miki," his girlfriend interrogated.
Matoi pushed herself off the wood siding and crossed her arms. "You see, I was lead to believe that it was a war that pushed us to this place."
"Where did you hear that?" Sakagami asked, biting her fingernails.
The brunette shrugged, unsure. "That's just what I remember for some reason."
"I thought the same," Akino admitted. "Anyway, recently I actually got a visual… the whole thing." Suddenly, the entire group was invested. "There was a tunnel that randomly showed up in the void. I went in, followed the railroad tracks that were inside, and was lead to a scene where a city was being destroyed. People were dying, birds were falling, and flying along the red sky were streaks of purple going into a blinding white light. Then, I woke up."
Yukino, with her hand over her mouth in shock, asked, "Do you think it could be Division-A that was being destroyed?"
Akino thought for a minute before shaking his head, imagining the difference in architecture between the city he dreamt and Division-A. "No, I don't think so. The buildings looked different."
"That's a relief," Yukino confessed.
"You didn't tell me that part," Matoi said, surprised. "You should confront Hetsu about it!"
"I wouldn't," Makina butted in. "I told you: talk to the Head of Security or the Criminal Court."
Matoi grew defensive and bundled up the wet rag in her fist, red dye dripping from her knuckles. "If anyone in this city knows what Akino is talking about, it would be her. She's the one who built this city up from the ground!"
"It wasn't, it was her ancestors," Makina argued.
"Wrong! From every source I read, it was Hetsu who was credited to Division-A's construction," Matoi argued back.
"They were aliases. If you did as much research as you claim, you should know that. How old do you think Hetsu Koboshi is? This city is one hundred years old, she'd be dead twice over if she made this place." Makina fired back before bringing the discussion back around. "My point is, if Hetsu did know- she wouldn't tell. That witch is evil, I promise you that."
"You're just butt hurt because she threatened to knock your ranks!" Matoi pointed out.
Ignoring her, Makina resumed. "Talk to the manager, not the boss. If you got balls, you might even convince her underling, Hideyo Hiroko, to spill something. Even still, I can't guarantee you wouldn't get arrested or killed for asking if there actually is something you're onto."
"No," Akino disagreed. "She wouldn't trust that kind of information to that many people. She isn't even letting other branches of military know about the person running around in the North District."
"If we expect to squeeze any information out of that woman, we need some blackmail," Miki said, snickering.
"Calm down, little kid," Sakagami denounced. "I wouldn't recommend saying that kind of stuff out in the open."
"Yeah! You tell him Akino's mom!" Yukino cheered on.
"It's about time somebody with common sense got involved," Makina complimented.
Miki dropped another rag in the bucket with Akino's and planted his bottom in the grass, crossing his legs. "Hey Matoi, have you made any cute Omega friends?"
"What?! Miki!" Yukino cried.
"Stop," Matoi rolled her eyes. "One's way too old and the other is way too young."
"Speaking of Asuka and Kiku, where are they?" Akino asked.
Stomping along the crushed concrete, Asuka and Kiku gawked at the surroundings around them. Several other Omegas followed behind them as they climbed up a hill of debris, bathing themselves in a ray of sunlight peaking through the dark gray clouds above. The wind picked up, blowing their hair with the breeze as they looked down the road.
Asuka extended her neck and sniffed the air, a scent teasing her nose. Repulsed, Asuka covered the bottom half of her face as a rotten smell crept through her senses. Unable to smell the rancid scent overwhelming her older sister, Kiku leapt from the mound and sprinted down the road. As she grew closer, Kiku found herself unable to persist without pinching her nose.
The group's attention turned to an old, stained dark red bus slightly tilted against a convenience store. They looked at each other in horror, realizing the source of the putrid smell was coming from inside the wrecked bus. As they approached, the details of the bus became clearer. A streak of blue was painted around the bus, indicating that the vehicle belonged to other Omegas.
As a result of morbid curiosity, they continued. Asuka lead the charge. Stepping onto the stairs, Asuka peaked around the corner. Unable to see anything, she walked up another step into the bus. She covered her mouth, gagging when she caught a glimpse of the contents inside. She stumbled backwards out of the bus, hurling. Kiku ran into the bus after Asuka, worried.
Crowded along the back of the bus was a pile of corpses embracing each other. Blood was rusted along the roof of the vehicle and along the booths. However, the gross amount of blood leaking from the decaying corpses pooled around them. Flies swarmed around them, including one in particular with their cheek ripped open.
Kiku shrieked in disgust and horror, fleeing the bus.
"Are you serious?" Hetsu asked, begging for reassurance with the phone pressed against her ear. Hideyo stood at the other end of the desk, biting her lip in suspense as she tried to listen to the call. "Call the Omegas back immediately and get our detectives out and ready."
"What happened?" Hideyo mumbled, not ready to know the answer.
"Twelve Omegas were found ripped apart in the back of an abandoned bus, presumably by Compactors. It's suspected that they were the squad that went missing yesterday." Hetsu pulled out her chair and collapsed into it, sighing.
"Are you saying…," Hideyo started, "…they were left behind? I… left them behind? I swear I counted for every squad..."
Hetsu ran her brittle hand through her fried white hair. She cursed under her breath, staring blankly into the desk. "I'm assuming that they ran and hid in an abandoned bus, because all of the busses we sent came back. Then the Compactors reached them…"
Hideyo hovered her gloved hand over her mouth in shock. "They were eaten? Even though they pose no benefit to a Compactor's diet…?"
The elderly woman stood back up, pushing the chair into the stained glass windows behind her. She sped around her desk and pushed open the office doors, exiting into the guarded hallway. "Hideyo, call Makina! If her radio doesn't work, call Matoi. If not hers, then Akino's cellphone. We need them here, now!"
Hideyo, pacing quickly behind her, agreed. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks with her hand over her ear. Hetsu slowed, glancing over her shoulder to see a worried and stressed expression on her face. "Master…," she stuttered. "We… we're getting new information."
"Wh-What is it?" Hetsu asked, concerned.
"Hold on…" Hideyo said, standing completely stiff. She paused for a while, a horrifying expression developing across her face, replacing the previous. "The gas tanks for their jet packs were empty… a journal full of writing was found… a-and some kind of flag was tucked underneath the corpses. A… it sounds like a flag for the… the Compactors."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone